The Las Vegas Raiders were in Canton on Thursday night to play the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL's first preseason game of the 2022 season. The Raiders came out victorious in the Hall of Fame Game, besting Jacksonville by a score of 27-11.

Jarrett Stidham started off as the Raiders' first quarterback, leading Las Vegas deep into Jacksonville territory on both of the Raiders' first two drives. Unfortunately, Las Vegas couldn't punch it into the end zone either time, resulting in two field goals.

Later, Stidham ran in for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 13-0 lead.

Through the remainder of the game, running back Austin Walter took an outside pitch to the house, and Jaguars quarterback Kyle Sloter found Nate Cottrell to give Jacksonville its first and only touchdown of the night. Josh McDaniels and the Raiders walked away with a 16-point victory.

McDaniels wasn't the only person who earned a win Thursday, though. Plenty of Raiders who are fighting for starting spots (or roster spots in general) took the field, with some increasing their chances of getting the job they're after.

Those are the players we're going to talk about here: the real winners of the Raiders' preseason contest against Jacksonville.

Biggest Winners From Raiders' First Preseason Contest

3. Alex Leatherwood

Second-year Raider Alex Leatherwood is battling Brandon Parker for the starting right tackle job. On Thursday, Leatherwood earned the nod at right tackle, while Parker took to the left side in Kolton Miller's absence.

Don't worry, Raider Nation: Miller wasn't out due to an injury, but instead was one of the vets Las Vegas elected not to play.

Leatherwood isn't a winner because he played particularly impressive, but rather because his competition, Brandon Parker, looked awful. The Raiders' offensive line gave up five sacks, and three of them were by way of Brandon Parker.

Parker was even beat on the very first scrimmage play of the game, where Stidham managed to get the ball away before first overall pick Travon Walker took him down.

If you're Alex Leatherwood, you can sleep a bit better knowing the player you're battling for a starting job had an extremely poor showing. Leatherwood, on the other hand, had a decent enough game. In comparison to Parker, Leatherwood might as well been a Hall of Fame tackle.

There's still a long way to go before the job is decided, but Leatherwood's stock skyrocketed due to his competition's poor performance.

2. Zamir White

What a performance Zamir White had on Thursday.

At 11 carries and 52 rushing yards, the numbers looked good enough. But it wasn't the numbers that stood out, it was his impressive skill set and how the Raiders rookie managed to put it all together.

White looked strong, fast, and elusive, all while reading holes well and fighting for every inch. There were multiple instances in this matchup where it seemed like the 22-year-old simply couldn't be stopped.

This is exactly what White needed as he faces an uphill battle for snaps.

Josh Jacobs will certainly be the RB1 in Las Vegas, and Brandon Bolden will be the third-down back. Furthermore, it's hard to imagine Kenyan Drake won't be the first rotational back behind Jacobs, being Drake's skill set is exactly what Josh McDaniels wants from his running backs. It will be hard to see the field in 2022, but if this performance was the start of something bigger, it may become impossible for McDaniels to not throw more snaps in White's direction.

Regardless of what happens, White was a winner Thursday, as he presented his case for how he can help the team.

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1. Jarrett Stidham

The Raiders won on Thursday, and Stidham was the biggest reason why. Subsequently, the first-year Raiders quarterback walked away a winner.

Stidham came into this contest fighting a close battle with Nick Mullens for the QB2 job. The former Patriot already had a slight edge, despite having notably less success than Mullens in the NFL.

To put their success in perspective: Mullens has thrown 26 touchdowns with 22 interceptions for 4,861 yards in his career. On the other side, Stidham has a touchdown interception ratio of 2:4 and just 270 passing yards for his career.

That doesn't mean much to Josh McDaniels. The Raiders head coach thinks so highly of Stidham he traded a draft pick in order to acquire the quarterback.

The race was close, but all of that is likely out the window now. Mullens struggled due to an inability to adjust against constant pressure, while Stidham looked immaculate. The 25-year-old only threw for 95 yards, but it's hard to find a play where Stidham didn't make the right choice.

Although he didn't record a passing touchdown, he was able to take it in with his legs during the first half. Stidham also led the Raiders to the red zone on the first drive of the game and the outskirts of the red zone on the second drive.

In the end, Stidham pushed himself far away from Mullens in the race for QB2, at least for the time being. The race is far from over, but the Auburn alum is far in front for now.