The Las Vegas Raiders voluntary veteran minicamp runs April 21-23, two days before the start of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. No one should come forward. That's the whole purpose of calling it voluntary.
That's why it matters so much who does it.
Clint Kubiak is a first-year head coach who inherits a roster that went 3-14 last season. He needs to know who bought him before he takes a single regular season snap. Players also know this. Coming to a voluntary camp in April, right before draft weekend, when the entire football world is looking elsewhere, is a statement. So stay at home.
Here are five Raiders whose appearance in April will tell us more than anything they said in a press conference.
1. Max Crosby
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Crosby appeared for the first round of workouts on April 7, which was encouraging after everything that happened with the zero-Baltimore trade. But step one is meetings and raises. Minicamp is different. It's on-field work and Crosby is still recovering from knee surgery in January to repair a torn meniscus.
His agent has said he is ahead of schedule. If Crosby is on the field, even in a limited capacity, on April 21-23, it sends a message to this locker room that goes far beyond his physical recovery. It tells every player on this roster that the guy with the most complaints about him is still the first one to come through the door. Kubiak can't produce that kind of leadership. Either Crosby provides it, or he doesn't.
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2. Tyree Wilson
This is the one I am watching most closely. Tyree Wilson is entering a contract year, after which the Raiders will almost certainly not pick up his fifth-year option. His draft stock coming out of Texas A&M was skyrocketing — No. 7 overall pick in 2023 — and it's fair to say his first three NFL seasons haven't matched that billing. He's a rotational piece in a 3-4 defense that just added QT Pay and still keeps Crosby at the top of the depth chart.
Wilson showing up to a voluntary minicamp under a new defensive coordinator with his roster spot and his future on the line tells me he understands this moment. Staying at home will give me the opposite results. With Rob Leonard setting up a plan that requires buy-in at every level of the front seven, there's no place to hide in this minicamp for anyone competing for snaps.
3. Cancer Cousins
Kirk Cousins is getting $20 million fully guaranteed to be a bridge in front of Fernando Mendoza. He reunited with his former coordinator Kubiak, and has said all the right things publicly since signing. But before Mendoza gets into the building, what Cousins does over the next few months will define how that quarterback room really plays out in 2026.
Showing up next week and throwing to receivers, working through Kubiak's system, getting comfortable in a new offense and a new city — that's the veteran leadership the Raiders are paying him for. Cousins knows how to be professional. This is where he proves it matters in Las Vegas, just like it did everywhere else.
4. Brock Bowers
Brock Bowers returned from a PCL injury last season and still had 64 catches, 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games. He is 22 years old and already one of the best players in football. This minicamp isn't about Bowers proving anything — it's about him and Cousins starting to build that chemistry between him and Cousins to really make Kubiak's offense work before training camp in July.
Kubiak is an offensive coach who loves his tight ends. Bowers is the most important offensive weapon on this roster. They're both building relationships early — in April, before most teams get anywhere near that kind of work — getting the kind of head start that pays off in September. Bowers is showing cases. Very.
5. Jackson Powers-Johnson
Here's one that might surprise people. Jackson Powers-Johnson was a second-round pick in 2024 who began the season on injured reserve after breaking his fibula in training camp. He bounced back and played solid football in the second half of the year and now the addition of Tyler Linderbaum at center gives the Raiders arguably the best interior offensive line they have had in years.
But Linderbaum and Powers-Johnson never played together. Cousins never played behind any of them. April minicamp is the first real opportunity for that unit to begin working as a group, even in a non-contact setting. Powers-Johnson being present and engaged, working through alignments, and getting comfortable with Linderbaum next to him makes sense for an offensive line that was historically bad in 2025 and needs to be dramatically better for this offense to work.
This draft will get everyone's attention on April 23-25. But what happens in Henderson on April 21-23 will matter just as much for where this team goes. Voluntary does not mean unimportant. In Kubiak's first year, it means quite the opposite.
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