SEASON PREDICTION 

The Raiders started the 2025 season with a win against the Patriots and ended this season with a win against the Chiefs. Unfortunately, they were 15 games in between the season opener and home closer in which they lost 14 of those 15 matchups. There were bright spots across both sides of the ball despite this 3-14 record. On the offensive side of the ball their second-year tight end Brock Bowers when healthy showed he has the potential to be the best tight end in the league, while they're rookie running back got off to a slow start but ended the season strong amassing an impressive 1,000-yard season while running behind the worst O-line in the league. This offseason the Raiders had the most cap space in the league, and they went out and spent it acquiring pieces to bolster their abysmal O-line and defensive depth to help out Maxx Crosby from having to carry the load every single week. On top of that, they got the best head coach candidate in the market to pair up with their 1st overall pick and now 2026 is shaping up to be an exciting year one rebuild.  

Many fans thought that Maxx Crosby would be traded this offseason, and it seemed like that was the case when we got the Adam Schefter notification claiming that Crosby had been traded to Baltimore for two first round picks. However, due to some shady business practices by Baltimore the trade ended up falling through because Crosby didn't pass his physical. With Crosby returning back to the defensive line, he will have some pressure alleviated from him thanks to the additions of Kwity Paye who has 30 sacks over his first five years in the NFL, and Keyron Crawford a rookie who logged 12 sacks in his final year at Auburn. This help in the interior is desperately needed as Crosby's body has taken a toll these past couple years. He plays the most snaps out of any elite pass rusher here and while getting double teamed on nearly half his snaps he still managed to record a 15 % PRWR and sack the QB 10 times. Las Vegas also got some help in the linebacker room adding former Georgia teammates Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean. All these additions will be especially important considering their new DC is expected to transform this defense to a 3-4 base, so snagging a pair of quality linebackers with prior chemistry will help the transition flow a lot smoother. Outside of the front seven there are some questions for the back line of the defense. In 2025, the Raiders entered as the projected worst secondary in the league and now as we transition the 2026, there hasn't been much done to address this problem. Last year there were so many issues that the secondary got overlooked but with improvements on the front seven I feel the secondary will be the achilles heel of this unit.  

On the offensive side of the ball, all eyes will be on the first overall pick Fernando Mendoza. However, despite all the hype surrounding him it doesn't seem that he will be the starter this season or even play in 2026. The Raiders coaching staff seems set on starting Kirk Cousins to begin the year and if he begins to struggle or gets injured, Mendoza will come in and replace him. This is a similar strategy to what the Patriots did in 2024 with Drake Maye, and it worked out extremely well. Sitting rookie QBs is not a hindrance to their development and in fact can be a great learning opportunity for them to grow. We saw this with Jordan Love who backed up Rodgers for 3 years and once he got the starting job, he was able to adapt quicker than normal rookies thrown into the fire straight away. I like the Raiders decision to bench Mendoza to start the year as it's pretty obvious that even though they improved this offseason, they're not going to be competing for a playoff spot. So, letting the young rook soak in the knowledge and learn from a veteran leader like Cousins will do wonders for his development.   

As for the rest of the offense, Klint Kubaik is likely already scheming up plays for his two superstars in Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers. Kubiak helped JSN emerge in his breakout year with Seattle and led that offense to a Super Bowl victory. The difference will be night and day  in play calling between Kubiak and Chip Kelly who was calling plays that weren't even in the playbook last year. Now that Bowers has fully recovered from his bone bruise that limited him in 2025, I fully expect him to make that final leap to solidify himself as the best tight end in the NFL. As for Jeanty, he will finally have a semi competent offensive line thanks to the Raiders going out and giving a massive 3-year 81 million deal to Tyler Linderbaum. Another boost to that O-line is the return of Kolton Miller who missed the majority of the 2025 season with a high ankle sprain. Alas despite all these great changes, the receiving room is extremely lacking and one of the worst in the NFL comparatively. The Raiders big move was to sign the Vikings WR3 in Jalen Nailor to a 3-year contract and stayed content after that. Outside of Bowers I don't see any of these players getting separation against all the elite cornerbacks in the AFC. Whether it be Cousins or Mendoza, I expect a lot of dump off passes to Jeanty and high point balls to Bowers throughout the season.  

So, while I am excited to watch all the new shiny pieces, the Raiders added this offseason they still have glaring weaknesses on both sides of the ball. On the offensive side, their WR group is one of the weakest in the AFC and the weakest in the AFC West. On the defensive side their secondary will struggle against the plethora of elite WR and QB duo teams such as the Broncos, Bills, Patriots, Bengals etc. Hence why I have Las Vegas finishing 5-12 in year 1 of the rebuild. I do expect some great moments to occur throughout the season and a much more competitive squad compared to 2025.