The price tag on Mike Washington keeps going up. He’s playing well, making him look like one of the better backup running backs.
In his preseason debut against Arizona, Washington was able to squirt out of a congestion pile, galloping for 53 yards. And he followed that up with another solid game at Houston, with a 33-yard rip and 9-yard gains on three other plays (including 2 catches).
While this isn’t earth-shattering stuff, he’s clearly going to be the No. 2 back in Las Vegas, and it looks like he’ll probably be putting up decent numbers if they need to turn to him for a few games. They also probably will employ more of a one-two punch, hoping Washington can come in with fresh legs, busting loose for some longer runs.
Despite playing for a lesser team at Arkansas, Washington ran for 1,070 yards and 8 TDs last year, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He’s also caught 73 passes in the last four years (at three different schools).
More impressive than his production numbers are his measurables. Washington weighs 223 pounds and ran 4.33 at the combine. He’s bigger and faster than Ashton Jeanty (not that the Raiders are mulling a lineup change – just saying).
While Washington is a taller back (6-foot-1) he put up a 10-yard split of 1.51, fastest of all running backs at the Combine. (The time is also faster than all backs tested in 2024; in the 2025 class, five had split times of 1.48-1.50 – Bhayshul Tuten, D.J. Giddens, Woody Marks, Jaydon Blue and Jacory Croskey-Merritt.)
Washington is an upright, downhill hill, and he had some fumble issues in college. NFL teams allowed him to slip to the fourth round. But I’m think he would be a third-round pick if teams were redrafting today.
The Raiders have Klint Kubiak dialing up the plays, and he knows how to put together a good running game. Early in his career, he was working underneath his dad (Gary Kubiak) and also Kyle Shanahan, who are both running game gurus, and Kubiak has done well on his own the last three years.
Kubiak did some good things with the Saints in 2024 (they ran the ball unusually well early in that season), and he was able to upgrade Seattle’s running game last year. It was apparent in the preseason last year that the Seahawks would be running the ball more effectively, and the Raiders are creating some of that same vibe.
In the last two years, only seven running backs have run for over 100 yards in the preseason while also averaging at least 5 yards per carry. Kubiak’s fingerprints are on three of those backs.
| HOT BACKS IN THE PRESEASON | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| 2025 | Knight, Zonovan (ARZ) | 12 | 138 | 11.5 | 67 | 1 |
| 2025 | • Holani, George (SEA) | 12 | 110 | 9.2 | 30 | 1 |
| 2026 | Washington, Mike (LV) | 15 | 119 | 7.9 | 53 | 0 |
| 2025 | • Wright, Jacardia (SEA) | 21 | 147 | 7.0 | 61 | 1 |
| 2025 | Rodriguez, Chris (WAS) | 17 | 118 | 6.9 | 40 | 0 |
| 2025 | Strong, Pierre (CLV) | 18 | 114 | 6.3 | 54 | 0 |
| 2025 | Johnson, Amar (GB) | 22 | 115 | 5.2 | 39 | 2 |
How this all comes together, we’ll see. This is probably still the last-place team in the AFC West. But I’m expecting Jeanty to be a lot more effective. And I’m thinking Washington should be a serviceable fill-in if they need him, as well as picking up some change-of-pace work. Kubiak used a one-two approach at tailback for most of last year, with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
This is a rookie who makes a lot of sense in the late rounds, particularly for those who’ve invested in Jeanty. (I’m one of those guys; I picked Jeanty in the first round of a recent draft, and this most recent showing spooked me into picking Washington in the 14th round, not wanting to risk somebody else grabbing him with one of the next 14 picks).
--Ian Allan
