Category: Raiders buzz

What condition the position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at offensive tackle

What the Raiders offensive tackle position looks like, who is headed for free agency, and whether an influx is talent is needed.

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ offensive tackle position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starters: Kolton Miller, DJ Glaze

Backups: Thayer Munford, Dalton Wagner, Gottlieb Ayedze

Free agents: Andrus Peat

Miller had a down season overall. Though there’s plenty to suggest that had a lot to do with the poor coaching and scheme change. Glaze was the team’s third round rookie. He took over for the injured Thayer Munford early in the season and played well enough to keep the job even after Munford was healthy.

Condition: Stable

The team may have a find in Glaze. I would expect they at very least give him the opportunity to prove it. Miller has proven in previous seasons that last year’s performance may be the outlier and figures to bounce back. That isn’t to say they will ignore this position entirely. After all, depth and competition are important. But they don’t have to make it a high priority, especially with several other positions in much more need of attention.

What condition the position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at wide receiver

We take a look at the Raiders wide receiver position as we head into the offseason and free agency.

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ wide receiver position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starters: Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker

Backups: Ramel Keyton, DJ Turner, Tyreik McAllister, Jeff Foreman, Kristian Wilkerson, Alex Bachman, Shedrick Jackson

Free agents: Terrace Marshall

This position looked like it was in good hands coming into last season. But three games in Davante Adams was already wanting out. Jakoby Meyers stepped up to be the team’s number one receiver, reaching 1000 yards for the first time in his career. But Tre Tucker never quite reached the ceiling they had hoped.

Condition: Critical

Should the Raiders manage to get their starting QB in free agency or via trade, they could turn to receiver atop the draft. Another option, of course, is to get that receiver in free agency. Though there aren’t a lot of good options there. Either way, they need a big X receiver to replace Adams. Meyers is a great receiver to have on the roster, but he is not a true number one who can help lift the play of whoever they get at QB.

What condition the position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at RB

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ running back position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ running back position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starter: Sincere McCormick

Backups: Zamir White

Free agents: Alexander Mattison, Ameer Abdullah

Zamir White was the incumbent starter after finishing the 2023 season on a strong note. None of that showed up to begin this season and it became clear quickly that he was probably the worst running back in the room. Mattison came in and ran better, but still not great. It wasn’t until both White and Mattison were out with injury that the Raiders discovered they had a bit of a hidden talent in Sincere McCormick. Along with some solid contributions from Ameer Abdullah as a receiver.

Condition: Critical

McCormick may be a gem for this team, but they can’t really afford to go forward on that hope alone. That’s the mistake they made going with White after letting Josh Jacobs leave in free agency. And that backfired. McCormick should make a very nice complementary piece for whomever they bring in to start at running back. Pete Carroll loves to run the ball and he had some good ones in Seattle, including Marshawn Lynch. Finding his next great back should be a very high priority.

Raiders named ‘logical’ landing spot for disgruntled former Defensive Player of the Year

Could the Raiders be a logical landing spot for disgruntled Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett?

Myles Garrett grabbed the attention of every NFL front office on Monday morning when he went public with his trade request away from the Cleveland Browns.

The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year would look good anywhere, but could a match with the silver and black be in the cards?

CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan included the Las Vegas Raiders among his five logical landing spots for Garrett.

The pairing of Myles Garrett and Maxx Crosby would be the most lethal pass-rushing duo in the NFL. The Las Vegas Raiders are entering a new era after hiring Pete Carroll as head coach and have the second-highest amount of cap space ($92.5 million) in the league to reboot in a hurry.

While playing alongside Crosby would be tantalizing, the main concern for Garrett would likely be Las Vegas’ current quarterback situation, which is to say they don’t have a clear answer at the position at the moment. If they can land a respectable signal-caller, that would certainly make them an even more desirable destination. – Sullivan, CBS Sports.

Dianna Russini, an NFL insider for The Athletic, shared what one NFL GM suggested as an initial pair of potential asking prices for Garrett.

Per Russini’s source, a first-round draft selection and a second-rounder are one suggested trade compensation for Garrett’s services. A first-round pick, a pair of third-round selections and another player was also tossed around as a hypothetical trade package for Garrett from Russini’s anonymous GM.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Raiders possess the No. 2 means to get better among all NFL squads entering this offseason when combining cap space and draft assets.

Would the Raiders think about packaging their No. 6 overall selection and their pair of third-round picks in the 2025 NFL draft to swing for the fences and pair Garrett with Crosby?

Under that scenario, Las Vegas would still have its second-rounder to try to find its quarterback of the future.

Garrett’s star power makes sense just about anywhere and the tandem he and Crosby would create could morph the Raiders’ defense into the NFL’s elite overnight.

Garrett led the NFL in tackles for loss this past season with 22. The Texas A&M alum’s 14 sacks were second-most in the league in 2024.

Garrett is the Browns’ all-time sacks leader and his 102.5 sacks through his first eight NFL seasons rank fifth-most among all players since sacks became an official stat beginning in 1982.

Meanwhile, Crosby had 7.5 sacks in just 12 games during the 2024 campaign. The longtime Raiders star also added 17 tackles for loss last season.

What condition the position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at QB

As the NFL offseason gets underway, we analyze the Raiders level of need at quarterback.

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ quarterback position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starter: Aidan O’Connell

Backups: Gardner Minshew, Carter Bradley

Free agents: Desmond Ridder (RFA)

A rough training camp gave way to a ‘lesser of the evils’ situation with Gardner Minshew getting the nod as the starter. Four games in and the Raiders were already ready to make a change. They switched to Aidan O’Connell only to have him get injured, leading to the return of Minshew. Then Minshew got hurt and O’Connell returned as the starter the rest of the way. The result of all this was each QB finishing with two wins and neither looking like worthy starters.

Condition: Critical

Minshew is a prime cut candidate and O’Connell’s lack of mobility is a major concern.

This team needs a franchise quarterback in the worst way. After finally pulling the ripcord on the Derek Carr era, they have fiddled around with several different starters, none of whom are the long term answer. The result was two lost seasons and in the same position they were in before. Getting a QB this offseason is priority number one by a wide margin.

Pete Carroll’s USC approach to building Raiders could signal quick turnaround

Raiders new head coach Pete Carroll sees similar situation in Las Vegas as when he took over at USC. Offering insight into his plans.

It was 30 years ago when Pete Carroll got his first head coaching gig. In four seasons with the Jets and Patriots, he found himself hovering around .500 and not seeing any progress in the win column.

It wasn’t until he took over as the head coach at USC that Carroll really had success. And it happened quickly.

His second season, the Trojans went he Orange Bowl and finished as the fourth ranked team in the nation. And Carson Palmer was a breakout super star.

In Carroll’s third season, the Trojans finished as the number one ranked team in the country. A season later, they were National Champions.

In his introductory press conference on Monday, Carroll pointed to his experience at USC and in Seattle as proof he knows how to take a struggling program and raise it to another level. Which is just what the Raiders are looking for him to do.

“I’ve had great opportunities to start up programs that have faltered in the past,” said Carroll.

“I look back at the days in Los Angeles, at SC, as really the building blocks of the philosophy that we were able to take to Seattle . . . in both situations, it just took us a couple years to get going. I know that rhythm, and I am expecting that rhythm. I’m anticipating that we’re going to find that rhythm right here, right now, here in Vegas. With the Raiders and this opportunity, I feel like I’ve been there before, and I’m going to bank on that.”

He then reiterated and emphasized how similar he sees the situation in Las Vegas in an interview with the What the Football podcast the following day.

“It’s very similar. And I’m hoping the commonality of the challenge will bring out the best in us,” Carroll said of the Raiders job compared to the USC job.

The veteran head coach’s work helping turn Carson Palmer’s career around in particular should have Raiders fans feeling a rare sense of hope after spending the better part of the last decade yearning for a quarterback situation they could be legitimately excited about.

“The Carson Palmer story, that’s an amazing story that was at the start and at the heart of our unveiling of how we did things,” Carroll continued. “And how we dealt with people and how to turn things around. Because Carson was really struggling back in that time. And it took us a year, but by the second year he won the Heisman, he was the first player in the draft picked. He was always worthy of that physically. He was capable. But it hadn’t come to fruition for him.”

What Carroll did to aid the likes of Palmer and Russell Wilson and Geno Smith to have success offers some insight into how he plans on doing the same with the Raiders.

“All of what it took to get that done wasn’t just Carson,” Carroll added. “It was building the team around him and creating the balance that good teams have that you can count on and they take care of the football and they use the clock well, and they run the football, and they have the fourth quarter to show off that running game, to finish games off with consistency. All those things that help the quarterback be successful.

“Here it is again. We have to do that again. And we don’t know who the quarterback is right now, we’ll figure that out, but it’s going to come from the same source of creating a really good team around that position. Everybody thinks it’s just that guy. It isn’t. It’s the whole thing. You have to create the support system that allows you to be really uncommonly consistent.”

He’s right. A quarterback is only as successful as his coaching and the team around him. It’s the reason Patrick Mahomes keeps making Super Bowls while Josh Allen falls just short. Mahomes has better coaching.

Make no mistake, however, this doesn’t mean Carroll is of the mind that he can win with just anyone at QB so long as that QB has a good team around him. He said it isn’t JUST that guy. But it is ALSO that guy. And the Raiders don’t have that guy…yet.

That being said, the Raiders need a lot more than that guy. So, Carroll’s task will be finding his quarterback while also making sure that guy is set up for success.

He had that guy at USC in Carson Palmer, who he noted had all the tools. And Matt Leinart after that. And Mark Sanchez after that.  The result was seven-straight years ranked in the top four in the nation, six Bowl wins, and a National Championship.

That’s to say nothing of his two trips to the Super Bowl and hoisting the Lombardi in his fourth season with the Seahawks.

The track record is there. Offering plenty of excitement that, even at the age of 73, he can do the same with the Raiders.

Raiders mock draft roundup ahead of Collegiate All-Star Bowls

Ahead of the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl we take a look at who mock drafters think the Raiders will take at six overall.

The weeks of practice have begun for the East West Shrine Bowl. Soon to follow will be the Senior Bowl. There could be some movement on the board based on what happens in those games and the weeks of practice leading up to them. But before that happens, we check in with some 20 different mock drafts over the past couple weeks to see who mock drafters have the Raiders taking with their pick at six overall.

Date Source Raiders pick
1/28 CBS Sports (Brockermeyer) Will Campbell, OT, LSU
1/28 The Athletic (staff) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/27 Pro Football Focus (Chadwick) Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
1/27 33rd Team (Crabbs) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/27 Draftwire (Popejoy) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/26 The Draft Network (Sanchez) Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama
1/25 CBS Sports (Edwards) Abdul Carter, ED, Penn St
1/25 NFL media (Jeremiah) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/24 CBS Sports (Trapasso) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/22 SB Nation (Acosta) Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise St
1/22 Palm Beach Post (Schad) Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise St
1/22 Draft Countdown (Mendendez) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/20 USA Today (Middlehurst-Schwartz Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
1/20 Newsweek (Borquez) Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
1/19 College Football Network (Helms) Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise St
1/18 Sportsnaut (staff) Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
1/17 Raiders Wire (Cola) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/17 Fox Sports (McIntyre) Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
1/17 San Diego Union Tribune (Brown) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
1/17 Draftwire (Risdon) Malaki Starks, S, Georgia

Most picked players: Shedeur Sanders (8), Will Johnson (3), Ashton Jeanty (3), Tetairoa McMillan (2)

Picks by position: Quarterback (9), Cornerback (3), Running back (3), Wide receiver (2), Offensive tackle (1), Edge defender (1), Safety (1)

Offense: 15

Defense: 5

Pete Carroll hopes to retain some current Raiders staff. That plan should start with this man

Raiders new head coach Pete Carroll said he wants to retain some current staff in Las Vegas. That plan should start with DC Patrick Graham.

Newly minted Raiders head coach Pete Carroll would like a mixture of coaches on his staff. That is to say some he knows, some he doesn’t, and some returning from the Raiders current staff.

He’s already working on bringing in coaches who have been on his previous staff, holding an interview with his former Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. But that’s only part of the puzzle.

“I’m hoping that we can maintain some of the terrific coaches that are on the staff, too, so we can have the benefit of the insights that they bring and the continuity that they can generate for us,” Caroll said at his introductory press conference.

Who they try to keep should start with one man — DC Patrick Graham.

Unmoored by Josh McDaniels after his firing midway through last season, Graham led a resurgence on the Raiders defense. And the rest of the NFL has taken notice.

With Graham’s contract now up, he has gotten several interviews across the league, including this week with the Jacksonville Jaguars to be their defensive coordinator.

It remains to be seen whether, if all things are equal, Graham would prefer a return to the Raiders under Carroll.

It could depend on whether he would be ok with Carroll’s — being a defensive coach — hands-on approach. It could be he’d prefer to be on a staff with an offensive coach so he could have more freedom to run his system on the defensive side of the ball.

Graham’s preferences aside, Carroll would be doing himself a disservice not trying to retain Graham first and foremost.

Keeping Graham would likely mean several of his key position coaches return as well. But even if they are unable to retain Graham, the Raiders should attempt to keep some of his staff. Most notably defensive line coach Rob Leonard.

The Raiders defensive line was one of their strengths the past season and a half. It was led by Maxx Crosby, but didn’t end there, with the likes of Malcolm Koonce and K’Lavon Chaisson seeing breakout years on the other side.

Crosby and the other defensive linemen love Leonard, so it would only strengthen the bond between Carroll and the defense to keep him on staff.

WATCH: Marshawn Lynch provides hilarious moment during Pete Carroll’s first Raiders presser

WATCH: Marshawn Lynch provides hilarious moment during Pete Carroll’s first Raiders presser

Marshawn Lynch stole the show for a moment during Pete Carroll’s introductory press conference with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Carroll was hired as the team’s next head coach. He has a longstanding relationship with the former NFL running back as the two were together with the Seattle Seahawks.

Even dating back to his playing days, Lynch cemented himself as an iconic for his excellent sense of humor. He put that on display again as Carroll was speaking in Las Vegas.

Along with their time together in Seattle, Lynch spent time as a Raiders player too. He’s also an Oakland native. It makes sense that Lynch made a cameo appearance on Monday.

Lynch made his mark on Carroll’s press conference by hilariously yelling out “Raiders!” in the midst of it.

The clip of Lynch can be found below:

Pete Carroll wants to hit the ground running with Raiders ‘immediately’

Pete Carroll wants to hit the ground running with Raiders ‘immediately’

The next chapter of the Las Vegas Raiders began on Monday and Pete Carroll does not want to waste a second of it.

Carroll, 73, was introduced as the next head coach in Las Vegas alongside new general manager John Spytek. A coach with a long track record in the NFL, Carroll set the bar high for himself right out of the gate.

While some might think it could take some time to turn the Raiders’ fortunes around, Carroll is not among them. In one of his first statements in his new job, Carroll said he wants to hit the ground running and win right away.

“It took us a few years to get to the very top of the last couple programs I was with,” Carroll said. “We’re starting right now and going for it immediately.”

As a Super Bowl winning coach, Carroll has hit work cut out for him but clearly he’s confident.

Carroll’s efforts will go hand-in-hand with Spytek. The 44-year-old former assistant general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not bring the same amount of experience with him to Las Vegas like Carroll will… even so, Spytek will certainly bring a passion to turn around the Raiders like Carroll has. He made that clear during their introductory press conference.

“When I dreamt about having one of these jobs, I always wanted it to be with an iconic franchise like the Raiders,” Spytek said. “There’s just some teams where it means a little bit more. There’s just some teams where–the NFL is better when they’re crushing it.”

For more from Carroll on joining the Raiders, see the attached clip below:

[lawrence-related id=113058,113055,113053]