The Las Vegas Raiders shocked many with their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Brock Bowers was not expected to be available when they selected 13th overall. But no one can fault a team for following the best player available philosophy, especially with someone as good as him. Bowers was one of two offensive skill position players the Raiders spent a draft pick on. The other was used in the sixth round on New Hampshire running back Dylan Laube. Laube has a chance to earn a role with this team and looks the part of a sleeper for the Raiders heading into the 2024 season.
Dylan Laube is a dynamic pass catcher
Dylan Laube is a fun player. His status as an FCS player at New Hampshire allowed him to fly under the radar as a prospect during draft season. But make no mistake about it, he can play.
Injuries and COVID derailed Laube's playing time and production in his first three collegiate seasons, but he shined in his last two. He handled 403 carries for 1,920 yards and 24 touchdowns. Laube has some real juice to his game.
But that isn't even the area of the game Laube really excels at. He is best used in the receiving game. For his career, Laube hauled in 169 receptions. 117 of those came just in the last two seasons. That is an insane number for a running back no matter what his competition is. For comparison's sake, Christian McCaffrey accumulated 82 receptions in his final two collegiate campaigns.
Any question as to whether or not Laube beat up on lesser competition should've gotten quelled at the Senior Bowl. Laube not only competed in that setting but stood out amongst some of the best players in all of college football.
Laube is a dynamic player with a versatile skillset that should allow him carve a role in some capacity. That role could be larger than anticipated after landing with the Raiders.
The Raiders were a great landing spot
It was thought that the Raiders would look to add to their running back room earlier than they did when they selected Laube. It turned out that wasn't the case. Instead, Las Vegas will hand the keys to their starting running back spot to Zamir White and will rely on Alexander Mattison and Laube to back him up.
Here's the thing: Neither White nor Mattison are great pass-catchers. White is solid on the ground but asking him to be a receiver isn't playing to his strength. In two seasons in the NFL, he has 15 career receptions, all of which came last season. Five of those came in one game.
His 1.4 yards per route run mark last season was solid, but the sample size is too small to say he can shine in that part of the game. White ran just 70 routes last year. He also caught just 17 passes in three seasons at Georgia in college. There's more evidence to suggest he isn't a reliable pass catcher (yet) than he is.
The same applies to Alexander Mattison. He's failed to post a yards per route run average above one in each of his last two seasons after doing so in his first three seasons. He ran more than 100 routes in only one of those years, however, so there wasn't much of a sample size to work with there either.
Laube should compete with Ameer Abdullah for the receiving back role and win that gig. If he does, he's in a sweet spot to rack up receptions if Gardner Minshew wins the starting quarterback job. Minshew is a check-down king. Leonard Fournette had a 76-reception season with Minshew in 2019. James Robinson was on a 64-reception season pace in the nine games Minshew played in 2020.
2024 expectations for the Raiders' rookie sleeper
Dylan Laube has a real chance to not only earn playing time but to put up some solid numbers right away as a rookie. He shares a backfield with other backs who do not shine as a pass catcher the way he does and with a quarterback who loves to check it down. On top of that, he's just a good player even though he came from a small school.
Laube is a player to watch out for. He won't get the acclaim that his fellow draftmate Bowers will get. But, it shouldn't be a surprise if both of them are on the field together often in 2024.
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