The roster for the Las Vegas Raiders going into the 2023 season looks pretty rough. While the offense could be better with the additions of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jakobi Meyers, the defense needs a significant amount of work.
In fact, you could make a case that they have the worst defense on paper in the NFL going into the draft. However, the goal for the Raiders this offseason is to add a significant amount of talent to that unit later this month.
In a recent article by Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, he looked at every roster in the NFL going into the draft and the Raiders came in at No. 22. He believes the defense is going to be completely overhauled during the draft:
The Raiders went backward this offseason as they try to keep up with the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West, arguably downgrading at quarterback, trading away tight end Darren Waller and still rostering what looks to be one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
Fortunately for Las Vegas, the team has 12 total draft picks and seven in the top 150. The new regime needs to have a polar opposite success rate with their early picks as the previous one did to get back on track.
While the Raiders won’t spend every pick on defense this year, expect most of their top 150 picks to be on that side of the ball. And unless they draft a quarterback in Round 1, expect the No. 7 overall pick to be a defender, as well.
If the Raiders can get back to having an average defense, they could win a lot of games in 2023. But just how realistic is that goal? We should have a better idea after the upcoming draft.
[lawrence-related id=100883,100877,100861]
[lawrence-newsletter]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqby7y715wxzbczy player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]