Can Gardner Minshew be more than a placeholder for the Raiders?

Gardner Minshew gets another shot to be a starting quarterback — this time with the Raiders. Can he put it all together this time around?

As they attempt to claw their way back to relevance, the Las Vegas Raiders are in need of a franchise quarterback, or something approaching that. Aidan O’Connell was the only serious candidate until Monday, when the team agreed to terms with veteran Gardner Minshew on a two-year, $25 million deal with $15 million fully guaranteed. That per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

Selected in the sixth round of the 2019 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars out of Washington State, Minshew was denigrated in some circles because he played in Mike Leach’s air-raid offense, but he’s proven able to do more in different systems over time. Last season, he was the main man for the Indianapolis Colts after starter Anthony Richardson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, and Minshew completed 305 of 490 passes for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 84.6.

That would lead you to believe that Minshew might not be more than a guy competing in training camp for a job, but Minshew did have his moments for the Colts. He completed 20 of 51 passes of 20 or more air yards last season for 715 yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 81.9. and he’s always been a better-than-average deep thrower.

Minshew has the capacity to lead an NFL offense if he keeps the randomness to a minimum and plays within structure — when that went south, things got a little weird.

Perhaps Minshew can keep everything in line, giving the Raiders more of a quarterback structure than they envisioned. This of course does not preclude the selection of a quarterback in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Christian Wilkins agrees to terms with Raiders in massive deal for great defender

The Las Vegas Raiders have very bad news for opposing quarterbacks: Christian Wilkins and Maxx Crosby are now on the same team.

Former Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Christian Wilkins, one of the best players in the 2024 wave of free agency, will have a new home. Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Wilkins will get a four-year contract with $110 million in base value, and $84 million guaranteed.

Those are weighty numbers that put Wilkins among the NFL’s top defensive tackles, but he’s put up enough numbers of his own for that contract to be quite reasonable. Selected by the Dolphins with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Clemson, Wilkins had 10 sacks, 61 total pressures, 40 tackles, and 34 stops last season. The 6-foot-4, 310-pund Wilkins can win from just about any gap — he played 16% of his snaps at edge last season — and he faced some kind of double team on 301 of his snaps, getting two sacks and 33 total pressures when doubled.

It’s likely that when Wilkins lines up next to edge demon Maxx Crosby in Las Vegas’ fronts, he’ll face far fewer double-teams than that.

Raiders close in on naming Antonio Pierce head coach

Antonio Pierce will become head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders

Antonio Pierce did enough to convince Mark Davis he should lose the interim tag and deserves to be head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted on Friday that the Raiders are finalizing a deal with Pierce to become Raiders head coach.

Raiders are working to finalize a deal to hire Antonio Pierce as their head coach, per sources.

The perfect head coaching candidates for each vacancy

The perfect head coaching candidate for every current vacancy around the NFL.

There have been a plethora of teams around the NFL that decided to move on from their now former head coaches. From the totally expected to the outright shocking, there are currently eight head coaching vacancies around the NFL- each one with a candidate that could help turn their tides.

Side note: I don’t think Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel take any current vacancy.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: End-of-season quarterback decisions lead to surprising picks

How many NFL teams will stick with their current quarterbacks? A high number could make for an interesting first round of the 2024 draft.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, every team turns its attention to the draft — even those teams that are part of the postseason. Area scouts will start to move to the home facility to interact with scouting directors and general managers, and with the scouting combine less than two months away, it’s time to start putting your big boards together.

This applies especially to those teams with crucial quarterback decisions to make. For the purposes of this mock draft, we’ll assume that the Chicago Bears are sticking with Justin Fields, the Arizona Cardinals are committed to Kyler Murray, the Tennessee Titans think they have a future franchise quarterback in Will Levis, and the New York Jets think that eventually, Aaron Rodgers will stop shooting his mouth off long enough to play quarterback in 2024.

Conversely, the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons will avail themselves of the best draftable quarterbacks possible in the interest of turning things around.

So, four quarterbacks go in the first round here, with more teams looking to build around the guys they’ve already got. That makes for one notable omission (Oregon’s Bo Nix), and a whole bunch of talented prospects at other positions pushing themselves up the boards.

Raiders Super Bowl XVIIII star Jack Squirek dies at 64

Raiders Super Bowl legend Jack Squirek has died at 64

There are many different heroes in Super Bowls. Some big names and others who etch their place in the game’s history.

Jack Squirek of the Raiders was among the latter. The linebacker whose pick-six in Super Bowl XVIII became an iconic memory, died Friday at the age of 64.

The throw by Joe Theismann was picked by Squirek, who returned it 5 yards for the touchdown that made it 21-3 after the PAT in the second quarter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NgUg5FMVps

The Raiders went on to w 38-9 win over Washington.

Per the team website:

Squirek played four years for the Raiders and was a central figure in one of pro football’s all-time great plays.

With the Raiders leading Washington near halftime of Super Bowl XVIII, Squirek intercepted a screen pass and returned it 5 yards for a touchdown to give the Silver and Black an insurmountable 21-3 lead in the eventual victory.

He originally joined the Raiders as a second-round draft pick out of Illinois in 1982 and played in 53 career games with the Raiders before finishing his pro career with Miami.

The Raiders must make Antonio Pierce their full-time head coach, and here’s why

Antonio Pierce’s ability to bring out the most in his players is one reason he should be the Raiders’ full-time head coach.

The off-season coaching search should be as simple as possible for Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis.

In fact, that coaching search shouldn’t even exist.

Davis made a major miscalculation when he hired Josh McDaniels on January 31, 2022. McDaniels was the man in Davis’ mind to replace interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who excelled in that role following Jon Gruden’s retirement in disgrace. McDaniels turned out to be his own disaster in his own ways, and his November 1 departure could have had the Raiders completely unmoored.

But with linebackers coach Antonio Pierce promoted to interim head coach, this Raiders team has become an entirely different animal. That’s been especially true on defense. Through Week 9, the Raiders ranked 19th in Defensive DVOA. From Week 10 through last Monday’s 20-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders rank third in Defensive DVOA, behind only the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets.

The AP Effect is real, and it is spectacular.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the AP Effect is cornerback Jack Jones. The New England Patriots, who selected Jones in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, waived him in mid-November, and the Raiders swept him right up.

There’s some serious history there, as Jones played his high-school football at Long Beach Polytechnic. Who was Jones’ head coach there? Antonio Pierce. How much has that mattered? In four games with New England this season, Jones had allowed eight catches on 11 targets for 115 yards, 21 yards after the catch, 1 touchdown, no interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 136.6.

Since the Raiders got him, Jones has allowed 11 catches on 18 targets for 78 yards, 32 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 31.5.

Fellow Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs has said that Jones is a fanatic about studying tape, and that’s transferred to the rest of the group. Pierce acknowledged that, and brought it all back to their high school days.

“Yeah, when Jack was younger we had a lot of study hall at Long Beach Poly. Those office hours led into watching film the way Jack was as a player and person. So, he’s learned at a young age that film is important. He’s carried that into his now professional career. It’s good to see. You really want that with a lot of players. All of us should be a student of the game. This is our job, right? It’s your job to know it. It’s your job, it’s nobody else. I can tell you all the information, but it’s your job as a professional to go there and do what you need to do to get yourself ready and prepared to play, and he’s done that obviously in the last two or three weeks by his performance. That’s got to continue, but you’d like to see everybody doing it.

“If Nate [Hobbs] is talking with Jack, then I’ll say, ‘Jack, why are you not bringing Nate? Why are you not bringing Amik [Robertson]? Where’s the rest of the DBs, all the corners should be there.’ We should all be seeing the same thing, right? You know what this building is? It’s silver and black. We should all see the same colors. Don’t make up any other new colors and new schemes.”

Jones’ two interceptions with the Raiders haven’t just been interceptions; he’s had pick-sixes in two straight games against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15…

…and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 16.

Making the most of what your players have to offer is one of the hallmarks of good coaching. Antonio Pierce has done that across the board, and that’s just one of many reasons the Raiders have no need for a coaching search at this point.

Raiders wreck Christmas for Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift, Chiefs

The Raiders came away with their second straight win over an AFC West rival

The Las Vegas Raiders were not in the holiday spirit. They did take a couple of gifts from the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas.

And that was enough for Antonio Pierce’s team to come away with a 20-14 victory on Christmas at Arrowhead.

The difference proved to be a pair of defensive touchdowns on back-to-back plays in seven seconds of the second quarter.

The Chiefs lost in front of Taylor Swift, whose boyfriend, Travis Kelce lost his cool on the sidelines and flung his helmet.

The Raiders are 7-8. Kansas City clips to 9-6 and missed out on a chance to clinch the AFC West.

Raiders score 2 defensive touchdowns in 7 seconds against the Chiefs

The Raiders get 14 points in 7 seconds off Chiefs gaffes

Christmas play at Arrowhead on Monday was sloppy bordering on careless.

The Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs had trouble holding the football.

After a trick play for KC turned into a Chiefs TD, they tried to get fancy on their next drive and it backfired into a Las Vegas score.

Isiah Pacheco took the direct snap and either tried to exchange the football with Patrick Mahomes or simply misunderstood the call.

The football was fumbled and Bilal Nichols picked it up and rumbled 8 yards for a TD.

On the next offensive play for the Chiefs, Mahomes threw a pick to Jack Jones, who returned it 33 yards for a score.

That made two touchdowns in seven seconds and 14 points in an unconventional way.

Why? The first PAT attempt was botched and the Raiders went for two the next time and converted for a 17-7 lead in the second quarter.

Las Vegas Raiders 63, Los Angeles Chargers 21 = Scorigami

Raiders’ romp over Chargers produces unique NFL score

Las Vegas Raiders 63, Los Angeles Chargers 21.

That’s 9 TDs and PATs for Vegas, and 3 TDs and successful PATs for the Bolts.

And you know what that means: Scorigami!