Four straight losses have the Raiders searching for anything that works, and oddly enough, one of their best weapons only touches the ball after the other team scores.

Running back Dylan Laube enters Week 8 leading the NFL at 31.1 yards per kickoff return, with 435 yards on 14 returns.

Buffalo Bills returner Ray Davis sits right behind him at 31.0 among players with at least 10 returns. The race is tight, but the Raiders' returner holds the top spot for now.

To put it in perspective, returners averaged 26.0 yards per kickoff through the first four weeks of the season, when the league piled up a record 13,409 return yards. Laube is handing the Raiders about five extra yards every time he fields one. For an offense that has struggled to sustain drives, those yards add up fast.

Laube keeps flipping the field

Laube was a sixth-round pick out of New Hampshire in 2024, the 208th player taken, and he is now in his third season. Through the first five games, nine of his returns went for at least 20 yards and three went for 40 or more. One of those was a 53-yarder against the Kansas City Chiefs, still his longest of the season.

He kept it rolling against the Los Angeles Rams, too, with returns of 36 and 42 yards in the first quarter alone. 

From what it seems, the coaching staff has noticed, because Raiders coach Klint Kubiak has called him an ascending player who deserves a bigger role on offense. Laube also scored his first career touchdown on a 2-yard run in New England.

The touchdown is the missing piece

That being said, one thing is still missing from his resume. The Raiders haven't returned a kickoff for a touchdown since Jacoby Ford's 101-yarder in 2011, and Laube has yet to take one the distance.

Honestly, nobody can say for sure when that drought ends, but a returner averaging over 31 yards a pop gives the Raiders their best shot in a long time.

Meanwhile, a sixth-round pick from an FCS school has turned one of the most overlooked jobs on the roster into a real weapon. 

Quite frankly, if he keeps this pace, his offensive snaps should keep climbing right along with his return average.