Malik Benson's well-traveled path gives Raiders a ready-made adapter

Jul 30, 2026 at 04:04 PM

Raiders Columnist

Malik Benson is the Raiders' Odysseus.

His football journeys have taken him from Lansing High School, just outside of Kansas City, to Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College to (take a deep breath, now) Alabama to Florida State to Oregon to, yes, Las Vegas as a sixth-round draft pick this spring.

No, no encounters with a cyclops, a witch or a flock of sirens…that we know of, mind you.

But the Southern Nevada desert is Benson's fifth different stop in five years, his sixth in seven, and the rookie receiver is looking forward to putting down some Silver and Black roots in Las Vegas.

Plus, his numerous stops on his football Odyssey actually set him up for success when it comes to being comfortable with being uncomfortable and adapting to new schemes.

"I've been to a lot of different schools and … I had to outwork the people that were there in front of me that had been there for some years," Benson told me on Upon Further Review. "Learning new playbooks, getting coaching from a whole bunch of different coaches, going with that dog mentality of, shoot, I've got to go and I've got to earn a job. I've got to, you know, take what's mine. I've got to learn the playbook. I've got to connect with my teammates, and things like that.

"So, I feel like doing that in college and being kind of uncomfortable in college, once I got here it was kind of a smooth transition because it was just like, there's not gonna be a concept that I haven't heard. Maybe it was called something else but, you know, I've seen pretty much every single concept."

In 39 combined games, 27 starts, at Alabama, Florida State and Oregon, Benson, who did not begin playing organized football until his freshman year of high school, caught 81 passes for 1,192 yards with eight touchdowns.

He also had a breathtaking 85-yard punt return for a TD against USC last fall.

And while Benson was not expected to challenge for a starting receiver gig with the Raiders, he has impressed enough to get first-team reps early in camp, and he is expected to contribute.

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Again, take note of his punt return abilities and his special teams value.

"I want to see his explosiveness come to life," said Raiders offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko. "We're going to want to maximize what he does, how he comes off the ball, be able to challenge him mentally and do different things with him and just see him grasp the offense and take it from the meeting room to the field."

As noted before, Benson's ability to process, thanks to his travels, is one reason to believe.

Another? His 4.37 speed.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Benson glides when he runs, a by-product of his track background. In high school, he qualified for the state finals in the 100m, 200m, the 4x100m and the long jump.

Yes, it all translates onto the football field, he said.

"I was really good at long jump, and I feel like with long jump, you have to have a certain amount of coordination to be able to run full speed and stop on a dime," Benson said. "Kind of being at the top of the route, in and out of breaks, things like that. The down-the-field speed, you know, obviously that's the 100 and then the 200 and things like that.

"Being able to play sports like basketball and run track, all around that helped me. Once I was able to play football, it's just like I had that competitive edge in every other sport. I just had to kind of learn how to play the game and then once I learned how to play the game, and my mom finally let me play, I just really just fell in love with the sport."

Yes, the siren song of football called to Benson.

So much so that the lifelong Chiefs fan and his family had a decision to make after the Raiders pulled his card at No. 195 overall.

"When you get the opportunity to get that call from the Raiders organization, you can't be nothing but happy," Benson said. "So, you know, once I got that call, I knew that me and the family, we had to trash all that [Chiefs] gear and put on that black and silver."

Talk about an odyssey.

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Las Vegas Raiders center Tyler Linderbaum (65) before practice at 2026 Training Camp at Intermountain Health Performance Center.