Raiders (

20) at
Saints (

23.5)

Published Sep 25, 2026 · 11:27 AM ET

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Mike Johnson has earned more than $500,000 in DFS profit across a wide range of tournament formats. He combines his background in coaching and finance with years of tournament experience to identify market inefficiencies in every matchup.

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GAME OVERVIEW ::

• Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak, who previously served as the Saints’ offensive coordinator in 2024, returns to New Orleans to match wits with the Saints’ head coach and play-caller, Kellen Moore.
• These offenses have differing offensive approaches, with New Orleans playing fast and throwing at a high rate while the Raiders play slow and are very balanced.
• Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty enters the game with 210 scrimmage yards through two weeks and will face a Saints defense that has been tested by Jahmyr Gibbs and Derrick Henry already.
• The Raiders’ defense leads the NFL in pressure rate, spearheaded by superstar Maxx Crosby and edge rusher Kwity Paye. The Saints offensive line will likely be the best they have seen thus far, however.
• Raiders star tight end Brock Bowers has returned to practice and seems likely to play this week, which alters the geometry of the Raiders offense and makes them a more formidable unit.

HOW LAS VEGAS WILL TRY TO WIN::

We saw the Raiders in Week 1 control the game against Miami and feature star running back Ashton Jeanty, who responded with the second best game of his young career and showed he is fully capable of operating as a bell cow for this team. It also showed us that Klint Kubiak is fully capable of adjusting to his personnel after he rotated backs in Seattle and is now building his offense around Jeanty. Then, in Week 2, the Raiders running game stalled a bit and Jeanty dropped a couple of easy passes. No worries, however, as Tre Tucker stepped up with multiple big plays and showed how well he fits into Kubiak’s scheme as a speed demon capable of generating the trademark explosive plays we have seen from Kubiak at his previous stops. This week the Raiders appear to be on the cusp of adding tight end Brock Bowers back to the mix after he missed the first two games with a knee issue that popped up just before the season.

The Saints defense has actually played well this season as they have faced the Lions and Ravens high powered offenses and held them to 24 and 17 points in regulation, respectively. The Saints are middle of the pack in most efficiency metrics, ranking 17th in yards per play allowed and 19th in opponent passer rating. Again, these middle of the road metrics are actually a positive for the New Orleans defense when you consider their opponents thus far. The Ravens averaged 7.9 yards per play in Week 1, then 5.6 yards per play against the Saints. The Lions averaged 5.1 yards per play against the Saints in Week 1, then 5.7 yards per play against the Bills in Week 2. This week the Raiders are likely to face their toughest defensive test after facing the Dolphins and Chargers to open the season. Assuming Bowers returns, we should expect the Raiders to operate from “12” personnel with two tight ends on the field at a high rate after ranking 20th in the NFL in 12-personnel rate through two weeks. Bowers and Michael Mayer form one of the best tight end duos in the league and Kubiak will take advantage of that with heavier personnel to also spark their running game. It won’t be shocking if Bowers has his snaps limited a bit in his return, with Mayer maintaining his full-time role and Bowers taking some of their receivers off the field more. Those two will be heavily involved in the short and intermediate areas, while Jeanty is featured once again and Tucker has some shot plays strategically designed for him. The biggest issue for New Orleans thus far has been allowing opponents to run the ball at a clip of 5.1 yards per attempt, so something in between Jeanty’s epic Week 1 performance and disappointing Week 2 outing should be expected.

DFS+ Interpretations::

Added Sep 25, 2026 · 11:27 AM ET