Japanese-born Raiders UDFA kicker who could win starting job has the best nickname

Japanese-born Raiders UDFA kicker who could win starting job has the best nickname originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

One of the fun parts about the undrafted free-agent signing process is you find out all sorts of interesting things about college players you've never heard of. Well, the Las Vegas Raiders have one of those guys.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Raiders are signing Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, who was born in Japan.

What's even better, Matsuzawa has an awesome nickname: "The Tokyo Toe."

It doesn't get any better than that.

Kansei Matsuzawa's college stats

Matsuzawa first put himself on the map in 2024, when he made all 32 of his extra points and 75% of his field goals.

He was even better in 2025, when he drilled all 40 of his extra points and 93.1% of his field goal tries (27-of-29).

Matsuzawa wasn't just accurate, though, he can also kick for distance after making 50-yard attempts during his collegiate career.

An opportunity to start

The deck is stacked against any undrafted free agent, no doubt, but the Hawaii product enters a better situation than most.

The Raiders let Daniel Carlson leave earlier this offseason and signed Matt Gay, a journeyman kicker who played for two teams over 12 games last season and only posted a 73.9% success rate on field goals.

There is absolutely a world where Matsuzawa could win the job and start for the Raiders in 2026.