We are in the home stretch for the Raiders of their 2025 season. Sitting at 2-8, there’s not much left to play for aside from pride. And the players will be taking the field trying to win every game, there’s no question about that. That being said, they will host the Browns on Sunday in what could be their biggest game of the year…to lose.
Hear me out…
Currently the draft order is such that despite both the Browns and Raiders having identical records, the Browns sit at the number three spot and the Raiders sit at sixth. And the difference between those spots is monumental. It’s basically the difference between getting a potential franchise QB and continuing to chase their own tail for another season or more.
This is a product of strength of schedule, which is a result of playing in arguably the toughest division in football. What that means is that the Raiders can’t just have the same bad record as other teams, they must have a worse record if they hope to get a top at or near the top of this draft.
The Browns are one of just two bad teams the Raiders face the rest of the way. The other is the Giants who they will see in Week 17. All the other teams they face currently have winning records.
That means that while they are likely to lose most of their games, their strength of schedule isn’t going to do them any favors. And a loss to the Browns would knock them out of their way in that regard.
Yes, again, I realize the players don’t care about any of that. Nor should they. They are here to play hard and try to win every matchup in front of them. Likewise, I don’t expect any Raiders fans to be cheering for their team to lose.
I’m just saying that if they do win this game, the tumble they would take in the draft order could prove to be one from which they won’t be able to climb back up. And so, perhaps, should they lose, you can move forward with the silver lining that it was a ‘lost the battle, won the war’ type of situation.