The Las Vegas finished the 2023 season with a 8-9 record and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. It was an up and down year for the Raiders as they had some very high highs – like the two week span when they obliterated the Chargers on Thursday night football to the tune of a 63-21 victory – and the following week – when they beat the Chiefs on Christmas Day in Arrowhead with a score of 20-14. A lot of people were hesitant about the Raiders heading into the 2023 season due to their lack of belief in former head coach Josh McDaniels. And they were right as McDaniels was fired after a loss to the Lions on Monday night – which set Las Vegas back to 3-5 through 8 games. But after Mcdaniels was fired – interim Antonio Pierce took over and the energy throughout the locker room and the energy you saw the players have on the field when AP took over – was noticeable. And they went 5-4 with Antonio Pierce down the stretch and the Raiders rewarded him and took the interim part off his job title – as he is now the Raiders head coach. And the Raiders have a lot of talented players – and they are going to be a tough, nasty team to beat entering the 2024 season – but there’s one – well – two big concerns I have with the 2024 Raiders that I can’t help but think – they’re set up to fail. I like a lot of things the Raiders did this offseason – but it’s going to be a long way back to the top. And we’re going to break everything down in today’s video. Now let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down who the Raiders acquired in free agency – and of course – who they lost in free agency. The Raiders spent a lot of money on one player – which was former Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. They gave Christian Wilkins a 4 year $110 million dollar contract with $82 of it being guaranteed. That is an enormous amount of guaranteed money for Wilkins, but Christian has been a very good player for the Dolphins over the past few years. And like we’ve said with other teams that have shelled out big contracts this offseason – most notably Calvin Ridley getting $92 million dollars from Tennessee, and Danielle Hunter getting $48 of his $49 million dollars guaranteed from Houston – paying him isn’t a problem because it’s not like Las Vegas won’t have the money to be able to pay an up and coming quarterback $55 million dollars per year. I liked this signing a lot for the Raiders because of what Wilkins represents. He is a very good player and over the past 3 years he has accrued double digit TFL’s in all 3 seasons, and even had two seasons with 85 or more tackles in 2021 and 2022. He had a career high 9 sacks in 2023 and also had 23 quarterback hits. And one of the big reasons I like this signing for the Raiders is because of how they’re going to try and win games for the next few years. Maxx Crosby is a freak and I really think he is one of the most under appreciated players in all of football. And whenever you think of the Raiders – you probably think of Maxx – or Davante Adams – and it makes sense – they are the Raiders two best players. But aside from just saying “yeah Maxx is good and he’s a really good pass rusher” – I don’t think there’s a lot of recognition past the fact he’s a really good player. He has had over 80 pressures in each of the last 3 years – which is insane – and I would expect that to continue this year. But the Raiders also had a player go under the radar last year in Malcolm Koonce – who had over 50 pressures and had 8 sacks in 2023. Malcolm played really well in his role and at the moment at least – the production of Malcolm Koonce kind of takes the heat off of the lackluster rookie season Tyree Wilson had. So entering 2024 – the Raiders have a very good defensive line in Crosby, Wilkins, and Koonce. And in the best case scenario – Tyree Wilson steps up this year and becomes a contributing player. But another reason why I liked the Wilkins signing so much was because there’s only so much an opposing offensive line can do against a good pass rush. And the reality is – the Raiders are going to need all of these guys to have career years this year because of how thin the secondary is. Now I am a firm believer that a good pass rush – or in the Raiders case – a great pass rush – can negate a bad secondary – to a degree that is. And this is one of the biggest concerns I have with the 2024 Raiders – and that’s their corners. Jack Jones played solid for the Raiders in 2023 and the hope is he stays at that level and if he does – the Raiders will have a solid number one corner. Not elite – best in the league by any means – but a solid number one corner. Nate Hobbs played well in the slot for Las Vegas last year but after that – it gets thin – and quick. Their 3rd and 4th corners are Brandon Facyson and Jakorian Bennett – both who have struggled at the NFL level. Brandon Facyson played just 3 games for the Raiders last year and will turn 30 in Septemeber – and Jakorian Bennett was a 4th round pick in the 2023 draft – who struggled during his rookie year. And the concern I have with the Raiders entering 2024 – is – over the course of a 17 game season – how will injuries play out? That’s the million dollar question nobody knows at this point. And I understand you can do this with every team – but the Raiders secondary is very thin – and I worry big time – if Nate Hobbs or Jack Jones – misses a game – that the opposing offense is going to purposely attack whoever is at the second corner position and basically say – stop us. And not only that – but the Raiders run defense wasn’t the best last year – and if teams can stretch the Raiders horizontally and get the ground game going – and especially early – I think that would only be setting the Raiders up to fail – and one other concern I have with this team – is – they are not built to play from behind.
One of the big things we discuss on the channel and frequently at that – is teams ability to play complimentary football. And that was not something the Raiders did well in 2023. And we will break this down more during the Raiders offensive portion of the video – but one of the Raiders biggest losses from 2023 to 2024 – was running back Josh Jacobs. Jacobs had over 1,100 yards from scrimmage last year and the Raiders could not run the football – really at all. They finished 28th in yards per carry and were in the bottom half of the NFL in every other rushing category too. And in turn – how did this affect the Raiders defense last year? Well, they were 27th in opposing average time per possession which adds up pretty quick to the amount of plays an opposing offense is running, and how often the defense is on the field. One thing I fully understand the Raiders – nor anybody – has control over – is who they play – and when they play. And after Antonio Pierce took over – yes they started out with two wins, but they were home against the Giants and Jets – both of which who had top 10 draft picks in the 2024 draft. Yes they pummeled the Giants in a 30-6 win – and I know Daniel Jones got hurt in this game – but the Raiders played really good team football against the Giants – which was good to see. But after the two games against bad New York teams – they lost on the road to Miami, and credit to them – they got out to a 14-0 lead against the Chiefs – before being outscored 31-3 the rest of the way – to lose with a final score of 31-17. Their next two wins in the Antonio Pierce era were agains the Chargers – which was a domination, and the Chiefs on Christmas Day. My biggest gripe with the Raiders entering the 2024 season – is – how much I think the offense is going to hold the defense back. Because in a perfect world – the Raiders could be similar to a team like the Titans back in 2021 – in the sense of playing clean football, playing good defense, and committing to running the football. And id you go back and look – the 2021 Titans finished 23rd in turnovers that year as they committed 25 turnovers in 17 games. But they committed 13 turnovers in 3 games – which were very clear outliers and had just 12 turnovers in the other 14 games. That would be the ideal vision for the Raiders and to be able to have Maxx, Christian, Malcolm, and the pass rush – get after the quarterback – and to have Robert Spillane, Divine Diablo, and Tre’Von Moehrig take care of the rest. But in the loaded AFC – I can’t help but think of how limited the Raiders are going to be this year. Now I do want to credit the Raiders for beating the Chiefs on Christmas Day last year – truly – as that is an insane accomplishment that not a lot of teams can say. But – the Chiefs going 10-1 in the remaining 11 games against the Raiders since the start of 2018 suggests that’s an outlier game rather than the standard. And my biggest question – even for Raiders fans – is entering the year – when you play the Mahomes, Burrow’s, and Lamar’s of the world – and they play all of them this year – when it comes hell or high water – realistically – who are you choosing to win the game? Are you going to trust Aidan O Connell to lead this team into M&t Bank stadium in week 2 to beat the Ravens on the road? I personally wouldn’t and that’s a shame because of everything the raiders did right this offseason from a culture standpoint, and from flat out improving the roster from 2023 to 2024. And despite how good I think the Raiders defense can be – and ultimately will be at times – I think the big question that it boils down to – is for what.
