{"id":150216,"date":"2025-06-22T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T15:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/150216\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T15:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T15:50:10","slug":"raiders-news-analyst-says-las-vegas-won-the-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/150216\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders News: Analyst says Las Vegas \u2018won the offseason\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> have undergone some significant changes this offseason, most notably hiring a new head coach, Pete Carroll, and general manager, John Spytek. Carroll and Spytek subsequently made several roster moves that have led to mixed reviews. <\/p>\n

However, the Raiders have one significant supporter for their free agency and 2025 NFL draft<\/a> transactions: NFL.com\u2019s Bucky Brooks<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raiders\u2019 return to respectability is underway under head coach Pete Carroll,\u201d Brooks wrote in a column highlighting five teams who \u2018won the offseason\u2019. \u201cThe Super Bowl<\/a> XLVIII champion has installed a title-caliber blueprint that should make the Silver and Black competitive in his first season on the job. By reuniting Carroll with former Seahawks<\/a> QB Geno Smith to help usher in a new culture, Las Vegas has jump-started the process with an underrated veteran who has a Pro Bowl<\/a> pedigree. As rookie first-rounder Ashton Jeanty and budding superstar Brock Bowers settle into their roles as the designated playmakers in Chip Kelly\u2019s offense, the Raiders can overwhelm opponents with an approach that repeatedly puts the ball in the hands of their best players in prime positions. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn defense, the return of coordinator Patrick Graham and top defenders Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins (if healthy) could help the Raiders challenge opponents with a fast-paced see ball, get ball scheme. Given Carroll\u2019s history of producing quick turnarounds as a team leader, the squad\u2019s mix of teachers and talent could lead to impressive results in his first season. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation for 2025: The Raiders could emerge as a dark-horse playoff contender thanks to Carroll\u2019s experience and expertise. The 73-year-old coach knows how to put together winning game plans, and his roster features enough talent to chalk up nine-plus wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

After going 4-13 last season, being a playoff contender would be a welcomed sight in Las Vegas this fall.<\/p>\n

In Other Raiders\u2019 Links:<\/p>\n

Dylan Parham on the chopping block<\/a>: This week\u2019s mailbag column<\/a> explores a few roster questions, including if the fourth-year pro is a candidate to be left off the 53-man.<\/p>\n

Big nickel this season?<\/a>: \u201cGraham deploys the big nickel to take advantage of matchups and create confusion for the opposing offense,\u201d Silver and Black Pride\u2019s Ray Aspuria wrote<\/a>. \u201c…With Carroll as head honcho and being a hands-on type with defensive backs, expect the Raiders defense to not only be aggressive and opportunistic, but versatile in how they operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brock Bowers, Maxx Crosby make Top 100 players<\/a>: \u201cBowers led all tight ends in catches last season as a rookie with 112, showing off the ability to dominate his matchups,\u201d CBS Sports\u2019 Pete Prisco<\/a> wrote. \u201cHe might not catch as many passes this year, but I think he\u2019s now the best tight end in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chip Kelly talks Dont\u2019e Thornton<\/a>: \u201cI think Dont\u2019e is unique in terms of he\u2019s just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There\u2019s not a lot of humans on this planet that do that,\u201d Chip Kelly said via Levi Edwards of the team\u2019s website<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think if you had a draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that\u2019s got length, someone that\u2019s got a huge catch radius, but also has speed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders have undergone some significant changes this offseason, most notably hiring a new head coach,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2065],"tags":[8597,357,2491,3663,7,29,523,1744,393,2492,5050,4241,4242,2455,2454,88,6,15,2592,782,151,525,3804,2490,24,524,8902],"class_list":{"0":"post-150216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-analyst","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-black","11":"tag-category-daily-links","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-front-page","14":"tag-las","15":"tag-las-vegas","16":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","17":"tag-las-vegas-raiders-draft","18":"tag-las-vegas-raiders-free-agency","19":"tag-las-vegas-raiders-news","20":"tag-las-vegas-raiders-roster","21":"tag-lasvegas","22":"tag-lasvegasraiders","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-nfl-draft","26":"tag-nfl-free-agency","27":"tag-offseason","28":"tag-pride","29":"tag-raiders","30":"tag-says","31":"tag-silver","32":"tag-the","33":"tag-vegas","34":"tag-won"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114727815142971812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}