According to Over The Cap, the Raiders are projected to have $85.8 million in effective cap space. That’s the second-most in the NFL and should position Spytek and the Raiders to reconfigure this roster for new head coach Pete Carroll and his staff quickly.
Las Vegas safety Tre’von Moehrig checked in as the No. 13 free agent and Raiders edge rusher Malcoom Koonce was ranked No. 28. Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs also just missed ESPN’s top 50 NFL free agents.
Here’s what Bowen had to say about Moehrig.
An ascending player, Moehrig notched five interceptions and 12 pass breakups over the past two seasons. He had five tackles for loss in 2024. He has the range to play from depth, and he is a tone-setter on contact when he spins down into the front. – Bowen, ESPN.
ESPN national reporter Jeremy Fowler said multiple personnel evaluators told him that Moehrig’s film was the best of any free agent safety and that it would be hard for the Raiders to retain him.
The Raiders will certainly attempt to do so, though. The 6-foot-2, 202 pound safety has tallied 297 tackles and six interceptions during his four seasons with the Raiders since being selected in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft.
Moehrig racked up 104 tackles last season, which ranked second on the team. The TCU alum added 10 passes defended, five tackles for loss and two interceptions in 2024.
As Bowen noted, Koonce’s 2024 season ended with a knee injury in September. If he’s healthy, the Raiders should think seriously about pairing him back up with star edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
He posted eight sacks and 29 pressures in 2023. If the knee checks out, Koonce should be viewed as a three-down defensive end with the pass-rush juice to disrupt the pocket. – Bowen, ESPN.
Other key Raiders free agents include defensive tackle Adam Butler, defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson and linebacker Robert Spillane.
The NFL’s new league year begins on March 12 at 1 p.m. PT and the 2025 NFL draft begins on Thursday, April 24 from Green Bay, Wis.
Before the offseason becomes about who the Raiders can add to the roster, it must be about who they keep. With a new coaching staff coming in, they won’t feel all that tied to the players on the roster right now. But they have to know which players …
Before the offseason becomes about who the Raiders can add to the roster, it must be about who they keep. With a new coaching staff coming in, they won’t feel all that tied to the players on the roster right now. But they have to know which players make or break this team as it’s currently comprised.
In that spirit, I ranked the Raiders free agents by how valuable they are to re-sign.
Priority: Very High
Hobbs is an outstanding slot corner. Both in coverage and as a tackler. Such players don’t grow on trees. You hold onto players like him when you get the chance.
Priority: Very High
Spillane is a tackling machine and one of the better middle linebackers out there. He also loves his Raiders teammates and would probably welcome a return. They should step up and hang onto him.
Priority: Somewhat High
They were lucky to get him back last year after he tested the market. They shouldn’t mess around this time. He proved he is an every-down caliber interior defender and earned a multi-year deal and they’d be smart to give it to him.
Priority: Somewhat High
Many teams may have forgotten the holy terror he was over the stretch run of the 2023 season because he was lost to injury prior to this past season. That should be enough for Koonce to want to take a one-year deal to have a shot at hitting the market on a high note next year.
Priority: Somewhat High
The former top college safety and second round pick is coming off his best season. He has been a full time starter all four seasons and is the top safety on the Raiders roster. With all three of their safeties headed for free agency, they should probably try and keep the best of them or risk having to rebuild the group this offseason.
Priority: Moderate
The former first round pick had a breakout season for the Raiders. Even though I named him their Comeback Player of the Year. His five sacks equaled his career total coming in. The Raiders got a find with him and it would be a shame to just let that find get away.
Priority: Moderate
The former college safety has become a decent starting outside for the Raiders. Could be a bit risky to let him go because there’s no guarantee you’ll find better and/or cheaper replacement.
Priority: Moderate
Epps was half of a pretty solid safety tandem along with Moehrig last season. He was lost in week three and the coaching staff liked Isaiah Pola-Mao enough I could see them letting Epps walk. Will the new staff feel similarly?
Priority: Low
The ten-year veteran showed his value as a triple threat — running back, receiver, return specialist — late in the season. He would likely be cheap to re-sign and is clearly still got it.
Priority: Low
An outstanding special teams player. You get a mixed bag on defense from Pola-Mao. He’s a restricted free agent, which means it will be easy to retain him with a tender.
Priority: Low
A 17-game starter and had his moments. But overall, it may be time for the Raiders to move on from the 36-year-old to their young core of defensive tackles.
CB Darnay Holmes (1 start)
RB Alexander Mattison
WR Terrace Marshall
TE Harrison Bryant
T Andrus Peat
G Cody Whitehair
The Raiders have some work to do between now and March if they hope to not see their defense gutted in free agency.
Last offseason, the talk was about how many of their defensive starters were coming back because they were still under contract. Well, those chickens have come home to roost, and now they are facing an offseason in which the vast majority of their defensive starters’ contracts are coming up in March.
In total, there are nine Raiders players headed for free agency who were either starters headed into last season or ended up starting the majority of the games this season:
DT Adam Butler (16 starts) DT John Jenkins (17 starts) DE Malcolm Koonce (Projected starter, IR)
DE K’Lavon Chaisson (4 starts) LB Robert Spillane (17 starts) LB Divine Deablo (14 starts) CB Nate Hobbs (7 starts)
CB Darnay Holmes (1 start) S Tre’von Moehrig (17 starts) S Marcus Epps (3 starts, IR) S Isaiah Pola-Mao (RFA, 14 starts)
There are far fewer on the offensive side of the ball:
RB Alexander Mattison
RB Ameer Abdullah
WR Terrace Marshall
TE Harrison Bryant
T Andrus Peat
G Cody Whitehair
The Raiders are projected to have the second most cap space in the league this offseason behind only the Patriots. And they will need to use a good portion of that to make sure their defense doesn’t get gutted in free agency.
PFF released their top 50 free agents list of 2025. Could the Packers target anyone from the list in free agency?
After securing a spot in this year’s playoffs with last week’s blowout win over the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers will aspire to a deep postseason run once the New Year hits. With an 11-4 record, the Packers are a talented team but currently winless against the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions. Therefore, they still have to prove they can contend with the crème de la crème in the NFC.
If this doesn’t turn out to be Green Bay’s year, they will still have plenty of pieces to build around. Roster building is a 365-day-a-year job, and there will undoubtedly be areas where the Packers can improve during the offseason.
While it’s hard to get into the offseason mindset with so much more football to be played, Green Bay is projected to have plenty of money to spend, opening the door for an aggressive approach in free agency. With that in mind, Pro Football Focus recently released its top 50 free agents for 2025. Some names on their list could be great fits for a cash-flush Packers team.
Using PFF’s rankings, let’s identify a few free agents who could be at the top of Green Bay’s wish list in 2025.
CB D.J. Reed, New York Jets
2024 stats: 12 games (12 starts), 54 tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, 10 pass breakups, zero interceptions
PFF: “Reed is poised to enter free agency at an ideal moment, as he’s on track for a career year. His 75.1 coverage grade ranks 14th among players at his position this season. He’s also excelled in PFF’s advanced metrics, boasting a 52.26% lockdown percentage.”
Fit with Packers: Last offseason, the only new corner added to the Packers roster was seventh-round pick Kalen King, an indication the team felt pretty good about their corner depth. That decision has worked out well, considering they are 8th overall in passing yards allowed per game this season, even with top corner Jaire Alexander missing eight games due to injury. However, with Alexander’s injuries piling up and former first-rounder Eric Stokes on an expiring deal, corner should be a higher priority in 2025. Reed will be highly coveted, but Green Bay might be an appealing destination. There would likely be a lot of carryover from the Jets’ scheme to Jeff Hafley’s, setting up for a smooth transition for Reed, who would join an extremely talented secondary and be starting for a legitimate contender.
EDGE Malcolm Koonce, Las Vegas Raiders
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
2024 stats: No games played (injury)
PFF: “If Koonce hadn’t suffered a season-ending knee injury before 2024 began and instead carried over his momentum from the back half of 2023, he could’ve been squarely within the top 10 of our list. Perhaps the silver lining, if there is one, to getting injured so early in the year is that Koonce should be healthier entering the free agency period than if he got hurt during the season. A short-term deal where Koonce can hit the market again in 2026, or sign an extension one year into a two-year deal a la recent edge defenders like Uchenna Nwosu, could make sense.”
Fit with Packers: Green Bay’s edge rusher room has done a good job of late, but if they are looking for some reinforcements, Koonce is worth a look. Coming off a breakout year of 8.0 sacks, 43 tackles, and 17 quarterback hits in 2023, Koonce unfortunately suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice just three days before the start of the 2024 season. The Raiders have had a disastrous year and would be wise to retain a player with Koonce’s potential, but they could also choose to let him walk. Still only 26, Koonce’s best football may still be ahead of him, and Green Bay is an ideal landing spot where he could continue to hone his skills in a 4-3 defense. At the very least, he’s an excellent rotational piece to pair with Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, and Brenton Cox Jr.
C Drew Dalman, Atlanta Falcons
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
2024 stats: 7 games (7 starts), 61.4 pass-blocking grade, 79.6 run-blocking grade, eight pressures and two sacks allowed in pass protection, 411 offensive snaps played
PFF: “There aren’t many long-term answers in free agency at center, which will make Dalman the primary beneficiary if he reaches the open market. Any team that deploys an outside-zone rushing scheme will be all over the former fourth-round pick. Dalman has room to grow as a pass protector but is one of the best run-blocking centers in the NFL and will advance the continued growth of the interior offensive line market after Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey finally reset the center market.”
Fit with Packers: Josh Myers has been the Packers’ preferred center for the past four years, but that could change once his rookie contract expires at the end of the season. Green Bay could definitely find an upgrade for Myers, who is the 39th-ranked center among centers who have played at least 200 offensive snaps this season. That pales in comparison to Dalman, who is fifth overall. The Packers would be getting a much more consistent player in Dalman, which has been an issue with Myers since he entered the league as a second-round pick in 2021. Dalman was in the same draft class and has vastly outperformed Myers despite being drafted two rounds later.
There were high hopes for the Raiders defense this season. Then injuries hit and they just got worse and worse.
No defense came out of the 2023 season hotter than the one the Raiders were fielding. Over the stretch run under interim head coach Antonio Pierce, they were the best defense in football.
Then come 2024 it all fell apart.
The issues started before the season began and injuries were part of the problem.
A prominent role in the resurgent defense was Malcolm Koonce who had eight sacks in the final nine games coming off the left edge. And just prior to the start of the season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury that would require surgery.
His spot has been filled by a committee of four different edge rushers this season who have as many sacks combined (eight) in 13 games as Koonce had alone in the previous nine games.
Soon the Raiders would be without both their starting edge rushers. In week a week two win in Baltimore, All Pro Maxx Crosby would suffer a high ankle sprain that hobbled him in an ugly loss to the Panthers and then cost him the first game of his career. He would return the following week, but it was clear he was fighting through the pain each week since then. More on that later.
Another major piece to the Raiders strong defense last season was new safety Marcus Epps. Three games into what was to be a contract year for him in 2024, Epps was lost to an ACL injury. He has been replaced by Isaiah Pola-Mao and there has been a noticeable drop off in safety play as a result.
The biggest splash free agent addition in the NFL was the Raiders landing defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. He was supposed to complete the Raiders defensive line and make a formidable one-two punch with Maxx Crosby. Five games into the season, he went down with a broken foot and was lost for the season.
Adam Butler has done well stepping into a more prominent role, though it’s hard not to imagine how much better the line would be had he been able to team up with Wilkins. In just five games, the Pro Bowler had 11 solo tackles, which is *still* second most on the team among interior defensive linemen despite being without him for two months.
Midway through the season, the cornerbacks went from healthy to nearly wiped out in an instant. Week nine in Cincinnati, just prior to the bye week, the team simultaneously lost starting cornerbacks Jakorian Bennett and Nate Hobbs. Bennett is lost for the season with a shoulder injury and Hobbs’s ankle injury has had him out for the equivalent of a trip to injured reserve and is finally set to return this week.
There. was even a couple games there where the Raiders had no starting safeties on the field. Jack Jones got banged up as well and the Raiders had all reserves on the field, with no cornerbacks left on the roster should one of them go down with injury.
Which brings us to the most devastating injury news this team could have — Maxx Crosby is done for the season.
Crosby had done well to put his ankle injury behind him. Then last Sunday in Tampa, he got rolled up on again and re-injured it. This time there was no fighting through it. For the sake of his own long term health — and with the team long since eliminated from playoff contention — he shut it down and opted to have surgery.
That means more than half of the team’s starting defense has either been placed on injured reserve, or — in the case of Hobbs — spent the equivalent of a trip to IR sidelined this season.
Based on the way the Raiders have played overall this season, the defense probably wouldn’t have been able to save them. Particularly with regard to the play at quarterback. But it could offer some hope that should the bulk of those players return next season — presumably with a better QB — this team could bounce back quickly.
Raiders DE Malcolm Koonce to have season-ending knee surgery
Just prior to the start of the season, Malcolm Koonce suffered a knee injury in practice that had him placed on injured reserve. That designation would have had him out at least four games. But it turns out the injury is more serious than that. According to multiple reports, he will be having surgery on his knee that will end his 2024 season.
BREAKING: #Raiders pass rusher Malcolm Koonce suffered a serious knee injury during a recent practice and will miss the entire season, per multiple sources.
A devastating blow for Koonce, who’s coming off a career-best 8 sacks and 3 forced fumbles, and was entering the final… pic.twitter.com/MH5MpAQUVY
Koonce came on strong the latter half of last season and was entering a contract year with the hopes of earning a long term deal. This puts a damper on that as well as the hopes he and Maxx Crosby would continue to be a pass rushing duo for the Raiders again this season.
With Koonce now done for the year, the team will hope 2023 seventh overall pick Tyree Wilson will start showing some development. The other pass rushers in the rotation are Janarius Robinson and Charles Snowden with former first round pick K’Lavon Chaisson on the practice squad.
How do you replace a former top pick edge rusher? Why, with another former top pick edge rusher, of course.
Last Thursday, the Raiders lost starting edge rusher Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury. Six snaps into the game on Sunday, they lost former seventh overall pick Tyree Wilson to a knee injury. Thus leaving the position not only weaker, but lacking depth.
The Koonce injury was a huge blow. But they were hoping for the depth to step up and lessen that blow until Koonce could return. The Wilson injury meant something needed to happen.
“It got thin real quick,” Pierce said of the defensive end depth. “Telesco’s working on that as we speak.”
Well, Telesco’s work has yielded a result as the Raiders have signed former first round pick (20th overall) K’Lavon Chaissan to their practice squad.
Chaisson was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of LSU.
Over four season in Jacksonville, he had just five career sacks. They didn’t pick up his fifth year option and he left as a free agent. He signed with the Panthers this offseason and was released last week, ahead of the season opener.
Along with the Chaisson addition, the Raiders have also added CB Kyu Blu Kelly to the practice squad. Kelly was a 5th round pick by the Ravens in the 2023 draft out of Stanford. He didn’t make the roster out of camp and spent time on three different teams last season — the Packers, Seahawks, and Commanders.
Tyree Wilson could miss some time with his knee injury.
The hopes that Tyree Wilson might step up entering his second season took a hit Sunday. The 2023 seventh overall pick lasted just six snaps in the team’s season opener against the Chargers before leaving with a knee injury and not returning.
Following the game, he was sporting a brace on his right knee and walked gingerly with the brace trying to ensure minimal movement of the knee.
Monday morning brought the prognosis. He has a sprained knee. This means it’s not expected to be a long term injury, but how long he will be missing is not yet known.
The team had hoped Wilson would step up and help fill the void left by the loss of Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury this past week that landed him on injured reserve.
Instead it was Charles Snowden, who was just signed off the practice squad, who led the way along with Janarius Robinson. Maxx Crosby, of course, played every snap at the other defensive end spot.
“It got thin real quick,” Pierce said of the defensive end depth. “Telesco’s working on that as we speak.”
There are some reasons for optimism if you’re the Raiders facing the Chargers Sunday. But there are also plenty of reasons for concern. There are a few.
Big loss on Defense
There’s no question this Raiders team’s strength is its defense. That defense is expected to carry them to a few wins this season. the most important part of that defense is the pass rush. And one of their starters was just lost to a knee injury.
Malcolm Koonce was expected to continue his scorching hot pass rushing that he displayed after Antonio Pierce took over midway through last season. He and Maxx Crosby were to be a dynamic one-two punch. Now the Raiders will have to hope either Janarius Robinson or Tyree Wilson can pick up the slack.
Quarterback comparison
This is going to happen a lot this year to the Raiders. But it’s especially true this week with Justin Herbert lining up behind center for the Chargers. Raiders QB Gardner Minshew makes up for his lack of elite physical talents with grit and moxie. While Herbert has all the physical tools to be an elite quarterback.
Outside of his injury shortened season in 2024, Herbert averages over 31 touchdowns to less than 12 interceptions per season. Minshew’s career high came in 2023 when he started 13 games and threw 15 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
At the most important position, the Chargers has a pretty extreme advantage.
Jim Harbaugh bonafides
Even if you remove Jim Harbaugh’s college football coaching, he still was a QB coach for two seasons with the Raiders (2002-03) head coach for four seasons with the 49ers (2011-14). He never had a losing season in San Francisco. He won the NFC West twice, went to the playoffs three times — winning at least one playoff game each time — made the NFC Championship game twice, and the Super Bowl once.
By comparison, Antonio Pierce’s NFL coaching experience consists of two seasons as a linebackers coach, and nine games as the interim head coach.
Harbaugh has the experience and is proven. Not having any recent NFL game tape of Harbaugh’s coaching style doesn’t help when trying to game plan against him either.
Malcolm Koonce heads to injured reserve and is replaced on the roster by practice squad DE Charles Snowden
As of two days ago, it there was no reason for concern for the health of Malcolm Koonce. Then on Thursday he left practice with knee soreness. By Friday he was ruled OUT for the Raiders season opener against the Chargers. And Saturday he headed to injured reserve.
Koonce will be out at least four games with his injury.
The third year edge rusher broke out the latter half of last season, putting up eight sacks in nine games. He flourished under Antonio Pierce as head coach and was expected to be a big part of the defensive success again this season opposite Maxx Crosby.
To replace Koonce on the roster, the team signed Charles Snowden off the practice squad.
Expected to step up for Koonce is the combo of Janarius Robinson and Tyree Wilson. Robinson and Charles Snowden both showed out in the preseason, earning Robinson the right to be the next man up, and Snowden a spot on the practice squad and now on the active roster.
