What Are the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024?

the Las Vegas Raiders their off season in 60 seconds hired Tom Tesco as the GM still can't believe that happened Antonio Pierce retained as their head coach Luke getsy comes in as their offensive coordinator couple other uh offensive assistants that they brought in Joe filbin R gangell was their quarterback coach Acquisitions signed Christian Wilkins to a four-year $110 million deal with $83 million guaranteed good for you Christian Wilkins brought in Gardner muu on a 2-year 25 million dollar deal with 15 guaranteed he is the starting quarterback for this team in week one lost Josh Jacobs balal Nichols J Jermain lumor am Roberts and Jimmy Garoppolo Greg van rot and all in free agency they they cut Jimmy Garoppolo Beller you could you could just say you don't have to be gracious to Jimmy Garoppolo drafted Brock Bowers in the first round Jackson Powers Johnson in the second round DJ glaze in the third round DJ glaze is an offensive tackle should probably mention that I don't think he's on a first aame basis with a lot of our audience right exactly yeah it's probably good to mention that the the random third round tackle who I don't even know if he was projected to go that high went that high so it's a good one to shout out Blue Chip checken for the Las Vegas Raiders obviously you have to start with Max Crosby um he is probably their best player at this point Devonte Adams is you know he probably gets almost forgotten about now because of how weird last year was but he is still a top three top four receiver in the league he's amazing I'm willing to give Christian Wilkins to graduation because I think for a long time he was in that next tier for me and the reason being he was not a good run Defender he was a bad run Defender kind of earlier on in his career I think he has finally gotten to the point where he is not only a very good pass rusher um a very flexible pass rusher but he is actually really good at holding his Gap in the Run game now he's a much more disciplined player he doesn't get run over in double teams the way that he used to um so I'm willing to to give him the graduation there I can't do it there are too many good defensive tackles in the league for me to is that fault that there's just a lot of other good guys at the position you you have to be a top 10 player at your position for you to be a blue chip guy in my mind I mean that's fair I just don't want to punish a guy for like there being a glut of really good players at a position all right if we're going to frame it as Blue Chip guy means that like you're a Difference Maker at your position like in a certain tier of player I guess that I'd be fine giving it to Christian W but I do think he is like a step down from the true true elite players at that spot I I think that I think that's fair I like him and we'll get into why I think he fits with the rest of this group but I'm not quite there quite yet I had the red chips I had Christian Wilkins and I put Colt Miller in there as well I think Colt Miller is like a very solid left tackle other than that see that's where it gets tough for me because to in my mind Christian Wilkins is clearly a tier above what Colton Miller is which is not to say that Colton Miller is bad it's just that to me that is clearly a different level of player so like maybe we almost need three tiers yeah yeah we probably need like some like middle stage here I think that's probably Fair all right significant question marks in your mind about the Raiders depth chart what do you got for me still a lot of the pieces on defense like I know they played really really well last year um but they drafted Tyree Wilson and I don't know if he's been uh what they wanted to him to be and I think in preseason definitively not been yeah he's definitively not been and I don't think the preseason returns this year have been that promising then the secondary there's just a lot of questions I think there are potential answers to those questions uh good ones but just a lot of questions still and then it almost goes without saying but the quarterback position quarterback I think is number one and then I think just general depth on defense is what I would say Edge depth cornerback depth if you look at the starting 11 I think this defense has a lot of promise and we saw them play really well last year when they stayed healthy but if they lose anybody I think that some of the talent on the margins uh is definitely worth bringing up what are you watching the first month of the year with this Raiders team like I said that's secondary I I think there is a chance this secondary could be good I really liked Trev merri coming out of college and I think if Patrick Graham's defense can be unlocked a little bit more I think merri is actually a really good player for that defense Marcus EPS in a very streamlined role can actually be Be an Effective player Jack Jones was obviously awesome when he got there last year and then I think they like jakorian Bennett it's just for me it's it's kind of a question mark and I'm not 100% sure he's he's really going to be the guy they want him to Nate Hobbs is obviously okay too at the nickel spot so it's kind of just like a matter of how good can the secondary be and does that change at all what Patrick Graham wants to be I actually as I did more research ended up almost answering my own question on Graham I went back and looked at like what his coverage rates were when he was the play caller with with the Giants it's almost like within one or two percentages in every coverage category exactly what the Raiders were doing last year so it might just be he calls he calls and you're just praying the young guys can play better yeah I mean I think it's interesting because the departure of what he was when he was in Miami is the biggest that that's been the biggest transition for him is he was a man heavy guy was he was with dolphins because that's how they were built and then for the most part over the last few years he's transition to just like a Zone heavy disguise heavy sort of approach on defense and mine is mostly can this defense be what it was in the back half of last season like this was a top 10ish unit they were 11th the defensive success R in the second half of the year they were fifth in EPA per play 16.3% of opponent drives last season for the Raiders ended in a touchdown only the Patriots were better over the second half of the season is that real like is that something that you can carry over into this year that that's my biggest question that's what I'm looking at I'm so I think schedule is going to play a huge huge deal in this because last year other than obviously that Patrick Mahomes Christmas game where he just he seemed like he wanted to go home and celebrate with his family like that whole game for everybody just went horribly wrong on the Chiefs other than that game they played a lot of really really bad quarterbacks like backups and guys who just weren't ever going to be that good uh from the start so I am curious that's really my biggest question is if they have to play more actual real quarterbacks can they hold up which again is basically just a proxy for the secondary that's kind of where I said it's like is this real over the course of an entire other NFL season and I I do think that of the core ideas of who they are defensively I like like if you look at it only three teams in the NFL last year and this is just one example only three teams in the NFL last year played more cover two when they lined up with one high safety than the Raiders did like what they were doing on the back end and some of the disguise that we saw I mean it was right in line with some of the hardest to pin down defenses in the NFL stuff right there yeah and and he worked with Steve spagnolo I mean Patrick Graham at one point was with Steve spagnolo and I I talked to Patrick Graham at training camp he's somebody that I'd want to talk to for years because I just think that he's done a really good job with the pieces that he's been given multiple times as a defensive coordinator and what he was telling me is that it's twofold in terms of how they construct their plan going into a season one what do your players do well I mean that that that's where it starts and yeah I was asking him you know you're a New England guy but you your defenses from a coverage menu perspective look nothing like a bill bich team like what are the things you learned when you were in New England that you feel like carry over to your approach now and his answer was just it starts with the players like it's always going to start with the players and trickle out from there and the second layer to this which I I thought was really interesting is he said it's also about who you play so if I if what I'm doing isn't going to work against the Chiefs then it doesn't really make sense for this to be a foundational part of what my defense looks like yeah running a bunch of man coverage against Patrick Mahomes probably a bad idea I I would assume and so that being the foundation because they shareed division with Patrick Mahomes and if they ever got to the playoffs like that's the type of team that they would have to play against I do think that makes sense and those aren't revolutionary ideas but just asking him kind of what that stuff was rooted in I I thought that that answer was pretty telling so that him as the defensive coordinator I think he's consistently done a good job and I do think they at least have interesting pieces at pretty much every level of this thing and that's why I'm just curious to see what level they can get to after some of the flashes that we saw on the back half last year interesting is the perfect word for this unit what is keeping you up at night with this year's Raiders team I'm I'm not going to try to be interesting or cool there's no need to be we have to talk about it at some point yeah it's very obviously the quarterback situation um and the thing is we could just start by saying the names Gardner mchu and Aiden oconnell and that alone kind of uh you know makes it a question mark but I think to me the bigger question is when Gardner mchu played played relatively well last year when he produced well let me say that when he put up numbers last year it was with a play caller that we both kind of think is next up right like Shane siken is is probably right in that knocking on the door tier for being one of those absolute just best play callers in the league what I love about that is that he's weird like he's not just from the same tree it's not a branch off of the same ideas that we're used to the fact that he could be among that group and he's doing it a completely different way than a lot of the other guys who've taken over the league that's why I'm I I think that he is such a fun entry into that club because it's unlike anybody else that has reached that level in the league over the last few years in terms of what they're trying to do no that's spot on like outside of your your Staples in Andy Reid and Shawn pyton who are older and who've been doing this a long time almost all of the other top offensive mind guys are like Shanahan system type guys which is fine like that's just the offense dour but like it like you said it's cool that Shane seyen has kind of branched out and been something different um I'm not sure Gardner muu is going to play as well outside of the Shane Sten uh you know system there so that that's kind of my biggest concern here what I mean you went back and you charted mchu from last season I mean you have a sense of who he was at the his most recent stop how do you think what he's bringing to the position aligns with what luk gsy is going to ask of him in this kind of like Green Bay adjacent offensive system that they're going to run I don't love it because I think if you look at the personnel and you look at what the offense is supposed to be they want to be in under Center we're going to kind of get into some heavier formations with these two tight ends we're going to maybe want to do play action stuff over the middle of the field that is all pretty much to me antithetical of what Gardner mchu has been good at when Gardner muu has played relatively good football it's been we're going to spread the ball out we're going to RPO we're going to let him kind of do his thing in the quick game and then because we're kind of throwing so much we're going to get maybe two or three plays where he does something out of out of the pocket and some games maybe that's the worst thing in the world but there are other games where he actually makes some gamechanging plays for you and you can actually March down the field and somehow get 60 yards out of nowhere because he makes some ridiculous throw outside the outside the numbers so um that to me is where the question marks come in is it just seems misaligned I I think is probably the best way to put it do you think that the rest of the offense just from a personel perspective can do enough of the heavy lifting here because part of me thinks the answer is yes like Devonte Adams is still a superstar level player I think jacobe Meyers is a very good NFL receiver the tight ends reason to be excited about it we'll talk about it in a second zamir white last year was ninth in the NFL in yards after contact per rush I don't think zamir white is a superstar but I do think that he's probably a capable NFL running back if you put him into a decent situation with a decent offensive line and I do think that this group up front there's not a lot of stars but I think they have a chance to get there like if Jackson pow Johnson is capable from day one you have Dylan parm going into year two you know theer mford is still the starting right tackle and the the reason is that he's been able to saave off a guy like glaze and they felt comfortable going into the season with him as a starter like this could be it average to slightly below average offensive line and you combine that with the weapons it's like all right like could he do just enough to get this offense to average or slightly above average is is it crazy to think that that's possible I think the flooor is underneath the ground by the way I want to acknowledge that before we go any further but I'm trying to play devil a a little bit about what the upside case could look like I would say one of Luke gsy or Gardner muu has to be somebody we haven't seen before like they have to be a different version of themselves than we've seen before like gs's offense has to be different than what he's used to or Gardner muu has to be not the quarterback that he's been for five years so I I just the quarterback or the play have to be a different person is not a good argument for why that you should for like your rosy case about the offense it could Happ I don't know Ah that's really good yeah I mean mine is does the quarterback turn into a pumpkin with luster play calling like that's what's keeping me up at night the other one I will say is the second outside quarterback spot uh just because they couldn't address it the way that they wanted to obviously they had the 13th pick in the draft they were in a position potentially to take a corner if they wanted to take a corner my understanding is that they looked at that pick and said look back at our draft history over the last five years this needs to be a double Off the Wall this needs to be a guy that is going to contribute for us and there is no better option at that spot in this draft even if it doesn't necessarily fit with the other pieces you have then Brock Bowers like I think the Brock Bowers pick was rooted in we need an NFL player with this selection and then we will figure the rest out later and the corner just never came so they had to address it a little bit later in the draft and now they're just trying to figure that spot out I get the argument for that but it leaves you with the cornerback room that they're dealing with right now what are you most excited about with this year's Raiders team you just kind of spoiled it uh these tight ends man I I mean so we'll start with Brock Bowers because he's the new guy in town Brock Bowers man he is just so I think what I want to say about Brock Bowers is he I think got pinned as this guy who is really athletic really good with the ball in his hands really really good in space kind of the way that George KD is I think his ball skills got really underrated over over the course of of like the draft season or not maybe not necessarily underrated but it just seemed like we didn't talk about that part of his game there were so many Clips where he's just like catching a seam ball behind his back he's making some crazy catches uh underneath where like somebody's just hitting him in the ribs and he doesn't care and he brushes it off and he catches it his ball skills are really really good and I think I think he's you know he's an undersized guy and he's never going to be a inline why completely kick your ass type of tight end but he's a good blocker for a guy that for a guy his size like he's going to be able to get it done uh and then Michael Mayer is it's in some ways the inverse um where he he is I think a true inline why where he can actually be a pretty solid blocker um be your guy who's doing a lot of a lot more of the Dirty Work he is not nearly as athletic as Bowers is I think he moves well for a guy who is much larger um but he's not quite as explosive as Bowers and then mayor's ball skills I just talked about how good bowerses are mayor I swear to God at Notre Dame caught everything in his vicinity like if it was even on the same screen when you're watching him it was going to be in his hands and he was going to catch it it's so funny that we have two tight ends on this team that their biggest strength as college prospects was pass catching like that's not normally the case like typically when you have a team that's going to live in 12 Personnel one guy is a stronger blocker than the other and even if mayor is his body type would allow him to be the why in a way that browers never would like Michael Mayer's selling point at Notre Dame is that he was an incredible receiver like he was the focal point of their passing game so to have two of those guys on the same NFL offense like I think about a team like the bills right where you have Dawson Knox and Dalton conade like tosson Knox can catch the ball but the selling point for him is that he can do a little bit of everything he is an inline player like Michael Mayer was as productive of a college receiver at tight end as a lot of guys we've seen come through in the last few years to have two of those guys on the same team it's just a different collection of talent at the position than we typically see no you're right and the thing is I think if you just said that to me like just you know we brought in two really young guys who are really good the cell was pass catching I'd be like that's really what you want to do with your 12 Personnel but they both to me hit the threshold of what you need to be as a blocker so it's not like you're throwing guys like out out there like Sam leapor and dton King Kade who I don't think hit that threshold yet these guys can do it so here's the thing about this though we've talked about this a little bit what are what matchups are you creating with your 12 Personnel where are you going to find matchup advantages and I think part of the problem with some of these teams is with their more slot kind of detached tight end in those 12 Personnel looks are you actually able to have matchup advantages against slot Corners with Brock Bowers I think the answer to that might be yes emphatically yes so I think that's the difference with this team is that he is such a dynamic receiver that you really are able to live in 12 Personnel that feels like 11 and still have passing game advantages when your three guys who are your receivers in those looks are Devonte Adams jacobe Meyers and Brock Bowers you can cook with that even though it's technically 12 personnel and I think that's the reason I'm excited about how this will work and how this 12 Personnel is different than a lot of other teams when they line up that way it's the inverse of the Rams right where you they're an 11 but it really feels like 12 cuz all those guys are kicking your ass but now this is 12 that feels a little bit more like 11 cuz oh they can actually throw out of these form what I'm most excited about with the Raiders I I cannot wait to watch this pass rush group get after it on third down like this group at its best you have Malcolm coun Max Crosby uh Christian Wilkins and potentially Tyree Wilson is slotted inside on third down but even if you want to throw Adam Butler out there I actually thought that John Jenkins and Adam Butler were pretty good for this team last year they brought both of them back on short-term Deals they have cool kind of complimentary skill sets like Butler is more of a penetrator Jenkins is more of a Spacey so the idea of dropping Butler Wilkins Co and Crosby on of the field at the same time when it's third and eight from a talent perspective it's really fun but one of my favorite things about what Christian Wilkins does well and how it fits this team specifically they run a [ __ ] ton of games and stunts and Christian Wilkins is really really good when you put him in those spots like when that Miami pass rush was cooking over the last few years you had Jaylen Phillips in one B Gap and you know Christian Wilkins is the penetrator and Phillips is looping around like that's how he's been able to help unlock the players around him and that's already how this group wants to play so I just think stylistically the marriage is already there it's not just about going out and getting the best possible free agent I actually do think he fits the way that they want to play and I am really excited about what that can look like in Define pass rush situations and they didn't really have any creativity with that last year cuz they just couldn't like that's just not how the unit was built so you bring in a guy like Wilkins who you mentioned I think on on games and stuff he's actually kind of good at both roles where he can be your penetrator pick guy obviously and he he's really smart about how to buy that extra little bit of space but then heith special one just one little grab of the shoulder pad is you're trying to free something up for somebody else that's a smart vet move I mean you got to give him credit and then when he's like the Looper more than athletic to to get around the edge and go make those plays so like he's just I I think going to be a super charge for this pass rushing unit for sure I am excited to watch that group Unleashed I do think that's going be my favorite part of watch on this team your most important supporting character for this year's Raiders team I again have one for each side of the ball on offense it's Trey Tucker and you know I know we just talked about a lot of the other pass catchers with the tight ends and Devonte Adams um jacobe Meyers Tucker is kind of their best bet at getting vertical stretch and obviously Adams gives you gives you some of that from the exposition um because even though he's a little bit older he's still a dude who can run and win down the field but Tucker can be your real like especially from the slot just stretch the field and give these guys some space so I think if he could be a functional player for them in that role that would be really nice for for kind of just making everybody's life easier truthfully and then for me it's the linebackers um I kind of like Robert Spain and divine as like I I think they're solid players but to me it's kind of just like is there a little bit more we can find from these two players like just a little bit more I think Spain is solid I've always enjoyed him and I thought that he actually played pretty well for this team last last year Diablo's obviously got his limitations like he's undersized and I think that you know that's worth considering but I actually do stylistically enjoy Roberts boy so I I'm maybe a little bit more optimistic about that group than you are heading into it I think that's fair mine's Jack Jones like if Jack Jones plays as well this year for 17 games you know obviously with slight vacillations here and there as he did for half of the season after dropp and getting dropped in here last year that would be incredible like they signed this guy off the street and if he can give them that level of play I think that goes a long way in making you feel better about some of the other question marks they have in the secondary if one side is locked down you feel good about Hobbs and that merri Marcus EPS kind of Duo back there gives you solid enough safety play solid enough veteran safety play it makes me feel a little bit better that we don't have a solid answer at that other outside cornerback spot and I think that Jack Jones goes a long way in kind of determining how that hierarchy feels over I think that's 100% right if he can like you said lock down one side of the field and the pass rush takes another step I mean they were already pretty good last year with just max alone basically and and Malcolm koun he was a solid player but then you add Wilkins if Jack Jones can really maintain that level that that is the high like the high end for this defense is him doing that I already spoiled this a little bit because I thought that us coming to this answer uh independently of one another was very very funny and I tweeted it out what counts as a successful season in your mind for this year's Raiders team I I couldn't find an answer man like there's just so many I don't know what the answer is and here's the thing when you did that with the Saints it felt more like a apathy right like it's just like who cares th this team doesn't isn't consequential that's not actually how I feel about the Raiders it's more genuine confusion is that I'm just not sure what the goal that they are trying to align to is okay so here here are the two paths in My Mind One you bottom you get the number one pick in the draft you you're able to like fully start a rebuild but that is not in line with anything else that they've done over the last two years and even with Tesco coming in signing Christian Wilkins for that deal Christian Wilkins is like a $33 million CIT next year you're not doing that if you think that you're some rebuilding team so I almost think a backdoor path to the number one pick and a forced rebuild where you stumble into your next quarterback that probably is a version of success but not for the people who are in charge of running this organization so the other side of it would be it like the way that this group would see it based on the other decisions that they've made do you get to the end of the season and you say about the Raiders man if they just figure out the quarterback this team could be really interesting and you walk into next year you know you got 40ish million in cap space you can move Devon's money around you could freeze something up and we're in a spot where we're saying you know what if they could trade for Kurt Cousins you know what if they could trade a second round pick for kurk cousins would that make this team relevant part of me thinks that tone and that like discussion around the Raiders would be success for them but I don't know if that's right I honestly think the other path where you just like start over find the right rookie quarterback and start building this thing at the right pace that's probably the better path dude calling them this year's Falcons basically I that might stick with me I think that's a really good comparison for I think what what might end up happening here and what they might be going for I was about to say that I think the defense might be too good for them to bottom out I I don't think that's true I I think that the floor on offense is low enough that on the in the worst case scenario this team could have the number one pick in the draft so I and I think maybe for the long-term health of the organization that might be the best case but I don't think you can qualify that as a successful season that's the thing is that even in that scenario where long-term that's probably good that's not helpful for anybody who's there right now yeah because I think that if you're looking at the way this team has been constructed and you have hopes for them on defense the fact that they could be the worst team in the league like there's no way that's success based on the preseason expectations for this defensive group specifically so it's it's just a hard team to figure out if they can get to a place where we do think the right veteran quarterback could make this team relevant I do think that is the best needle to possibly thread where the fan base would be happy and it's an acceptable path forward even though the margin for error with that one does feel pretty small your irresponsible player prediction for this year's Raiders team this is honestly one of the more responsible takes I've had in this uh in this category but I think Malcolm coun can get to to double digit sacks I think he got pretty close last year he got to eight sacks um and then I think if you just assume that Christian Wilkins is going to kind of supercharge this unit as a whole and kind of free up some other players and help them help them do that c is very obviously their second best guy off the edge he's going to get a ton of chances I think it's pretty on the table for him yeah I like him a lot as a player and he's hitting free agency this off season which is another thing to mention like even if it goes well for this team and they have some cap space next year coun is a free agent merri is a free agent EPS is a free agent Hobs is a free agent Spain is a free agent like it's just a strange team I just don't really know what to make of it my this this also isn't that spicy I think both quarterbacks play at least six games like I just imagine that we're going to see both of these guys at some point this season I know that's not particularly interesting but that that's the most I could muster with this one I I think yeah again a team where it's hard to to figure out some of these categories [Music] [Applause] [Music]