The Las Vegas Raiders took a major step toward improving their substandard offensive line Monday, agreeing to a three-year, $81 million contract with three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.
The club also agreed to a three-year, $30 million contract Monday to retain cornerback Eric Stokes and to a three-year, $35 million deal for wide receiver Jalen Nailor, people with knowledge of deals told AP.
All spoke on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized.
Linderbaum's contract includes $60 million in guaranteed money, Stokes' deal includes $20 million and Nailor $23 million.
The deal for Linderbaum, at $27 million per year, makes him the highest-paid interior offensive lineman, according to overthecap.com.
Landing Linderbaum is a massive get for the Raiders, whose offensive line struggled through injuries and subpar play. Las Vegas allowed an NFL-high 64 sacks last season and was last in rushing yards per game (77.5) and per attempt (3.57).
It didn't help that the Raiders' best lineman, left tackle Kolton Miller, played just four games before going on season-ending injured reserve after hurting his ankle.
With Miller expected back and Linderbaum, who played all four seasons with the Ravens, now joining the team, the Raiders have two major pieces to build around. Pro Football Focus rated Linderbaum the fifth-best center among 40 at that position.
The Raiders also get back third-year interior lineman Jackson Powers-Johnson, who has dealt with injuries and inconsistency, but could have a high ceiling. He lost the center job in training camp to Jordan Meredith last season and switched to guard. The Raiders released guard Alex Cappa on Friday, clearing the way for Powers-Johnson to take hold of the position.
“Can’t wait to get to work,” Powers-Johnson posted on social media in reaction to the Linderbaum agreement.
Las Vegas figures to continue to be aggressive in free agency and the draft in trying to improve a front that still has many question marks.
Stokes signed a one-year contract with the Raiders last season after spending his first four years in Green Bay. Stokes started 16 games to give Las Vegas some stability at an otherwise shaky position, finishing with five pass breakups and 53 tackles. Both were his second-best career totals, behind his rookie-season numbers of 14 pass breakups and 55 tackles.
Signing with the Raiders represents a bit of a homecoming for Nailor, who played at Las Vegas high school powerhouse Bishop Gorman. He spent all four seasons in Minnesota and comes off career highs of 29 catches for 444 yards. Nailor also caught four touchdown passes.
The Raiders likely remain in the hunt for a No. 1 wide receiver after trading Jakobi Meyers to Jacksonville in November. Their offense took a major hit without a receiver capable of taking pressure off tight end Brock Bowers. Nailor could be part of the equation of opening up the offense.
The Raiders entered free agency with nearly $112 million in salary cap space, according to overthecap.com, easily the most in the NFL. They also have the No. 1 overall draft pick, and are widely expected to take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, as well as the 14th selection after agreeing to trade defensive end Maxx Crosby to Baltimore on Friday.
Las Vegas also is expected to cut veteran quarterback Geno Smith.
Second-year general manager John Spytek hopes to use all those assets to help turn around a franchise that went 3-14 last season. The Raiders also enter next season with their third coach in three years with former Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak taking over.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Eric Stokes smiles after an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Dec. 21, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker, file)
FILE - Baltimore Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum in action during the second half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Oct. 26, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams, file)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil prices surged and stock markets slid Monday after hard-line Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen to succeed his late father as Iran's supreme leader. His appointment, and new strikes on regional oil infrastructure, signaled that Iran was digging in 10 days into the war launched by the United States and Israel.
The war has choked off major supplies of oil and gas to world markets, led foreigners to flee from business hubs and prompted millions to seek shelter as bombs hit sites including military bases, government buildings, oil and water installations, hotels and at least one school.
Khamenei, a secretive 56-year-old cleric, is only the third supreme leader in the history of the Islamic Republic. He has close ties to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has been firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states since his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989, was killed during the war’s opening salvo.
The appointment suggests Tehran is not close to giving up on what it considers a fight for the Islamic theocracy's survival.
Thousands poured into a central square in the capital, Tehran, and other locations in a show of allegiance to the new supreme leader, waving flags and shouting phrases like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
“America and Israel: You’ve failed, and you will drown in the swamp you are stuck in,” said Abbas Ali Saeedipoor, one of the demonstrators.
Iranian authorities have long encouraged public shows of support for the Islamic Republic while violently cracking down on dissent. Earlier this year, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands detained during mass protests against the elder Khamenei.
The U.S. stock market careened through a manic Monday, going from a steep early loss to a solid gain as worries turned into hope that the war with Iran may not last that long. Oil prices whipped from nearly $120 per barrel, the highest since 2022, back toward $90.
Iran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have all but stopped tankers from using the shipping lane through which a fifth of the world’s oil is carried, and Iranian drones and missiles have targeted oil and gas infrastructure in major producers. Attacks on merchant ships near the strait have killed at least seven mariners, according to the International Maritime Organization.
“There is not an oil shortage,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Prices will drop again soon,” he added, suggesting shipments from Venezuela to the U.S. could help offset the price spike.
Trump had a call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war and other issues, according to the Kremlin.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described the hourlong conversation as “frank and businesslike." He said Putin “voiced a few ideas regarding a quick political and diplomatic settlement” of the conflict following his conversations with Gulf leaders and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is “well on our way” to achieving its objective, which he said was to eliminate Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile and its ability to produce and launch them. The administration has offered shifting rationales and timelines since the start of the conflict.
The White House said Trump would hold a news conference later Monday on the situation in Iran.
Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the supreme leader, told CNN on Monday that Iran is prepared for a long war. He said he sees no “room for diplomacy anymore” unless economic pressure prompts other countries to intervene and stop the “aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran.”
Amid unrelenting Iranian drones and missiles Monday, sirens blared multiple times across Israel. A man was killed in central Israel in a missile strike, the first such death in Israel in a week, and a woman was wounded.
Israel said Monday that it was carrying out “a wide-scale wave of strikes” on the Iranian city of Isfahan, as well as Tehran and in southern Iran. The Israeli military said it hit dozens of infrastructure sites across Iran, including the drone headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard.
Since the start of the war, Israel has eliminated more than 1,900 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and commanders, an Israeli military spokesperson said at a press briefing without providing evidence.
Turkey, meanwhile, said NATO defenses had intercepted a ballistic missile that entered the country’s airspace for the second time since the war started.
The younger Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the war started, was long considered a potential successor — even before the killing of his 86-year-old father. The younger Khamenei's wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, was killed in the same strike.
An Iranian state TV report suggested the younger Khamenei may have been wounded in that strike, though a state TV analyst later appeared to amend the report, saying he had been wounded in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war in which he served.
The younger Khamenei is seen as even less compromising than his late father. As supreme leader, he has the final say on all major policies, including Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
Though Iran’s key nuclear sites are in tatters after the U.S. bombed them during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, it still has highly enriched uranium that’s a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Khamenei could choose to do what his father never did — build a nuclear bomb.
Israel has already described Khamenei as a potential target, while Trump has called him “unacceptable” and a “lightweight.”
Saudi Arabia lashed out at Iran following the drone attack on its massive Shaybah oil field, saying Tehran would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states.
In the UAE, home to the futuristic city of Dubai, authorities said two people were wounded by shrapnel from the interception of Iranian missiles over the capital, Abu Dhabi. The Emirati Defense Ministry said 15 ballistic missiles and 18 drones were fired at the country on Monday.
Iran also attacked Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where it hit a residential area, wounding 32 people, including several children, according to authorities. Another attack appeared to have started a fire at Bahrain's only oil refinery, sending up thick plumes of smoke.
The U.S. State Department early Monday ordered nonessential personnel and families of all staff to leave Saudi Arabia. Several other U.S. diplomatic missions have ordered all but key staff to leave.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials. Israel reported its first soldier deaths on Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where it is fighting Hezbollah. A total of seven U.S. service members have been killed.
UNICEF, the children's agency, reported that at least 83 children have been killed and 254 wounded in Lebanon since March 2.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Keaten from Geneva. Associated Press journalists around the world also contributed to this report.
People gather in a rally to support Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners pray during the funeral of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Relatives mourn over the flag draped coffin of Mehdi Hosseini who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike during his burial ceremony at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The coffin of Mehdi Hosseini, a man killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike, is carried for burial at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man carries shoes from his destroyed house that was hit by Israeli airstrikes hit several houses in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Alireza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)
Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
