Transcript for:
2024 NFL Power Rankings: Las Vegas Raiders Deep Dive

[Music] what is going on everybody welcome into the reveal of the number 24 team in my 2024 NFL Power Rankings with a deep dive into the Las Vegas Raiders a frisky and fun team that I'm excited to talk about here today based on the comments I think for the first time that I can remember I'm at least a little bit higher on the Raiders than many this is like I said a frisky team team that has an identity as a bunch of ass kickers some underrated talent that can hit you in different ways that is a handful to deal with and even though I don't think this team is a major player in the AFC obviously ranking them 24th I think this is a team that's going to pull off some upsets this season that we did not see coming but before we do dive into this team I do ask if you could take just a second to hit that like button if you've been enjoying this series or you enjoy this video it really does go a long way towards helping support my channel and this series a lot goes into these videos it takes just a second to hit that like button and it really does help so thank you and make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any of these deep Dives as we lead up to my number one team heading into next season but let's go ahead and get started by taking a look at this team's off season what all changed where they got better where they got worse starting with the coaching staff it really is a continuation of what all already changed last season they looked at how much better and how much more physical this team was under Antonio Pierce and said yeah we'll take a little bit more of that please but they did make some changes beyond that some for the better some potentially for the worse I think as far as the offensive coordinator change very much to be determined they say goodbye to mck Lombardi who I can't say did a horrible job given the existing roster Talent last season and the offense performed um and they bring in Luke gsy who Chicago fans will laugh at Raiders fans for that I am willing to give Luke getsy a a second chance here calling plays for Justin Fields who consistently misses first reads and is slow to First reads and very rarely gets to Second reads when you scheme up a good play very often Justin Fields was not able to hit that so I'm willing to give Luke gety a second chance but there was a lot of ugliness from the play calling side of things in Chicago too so an interesting hire they do also bring in the very experienced Marvin Lewis as an assistant head coach here someone that's done it before and can be a left-hand man for Antonio Pierce I think that's a very fun and notable higher um but the big one here and the main reason I don't list this as an upgrade for the staff is they lose their offensive line coach Carmen Brillo someone we praised a lot in that Giants Deep dive the offensive line coach is an all-important coach coach in the building and I don't know what led to this change but they're going with a much less proven James Craig and it will be interesting to see if the offensive line can can really continue to overperform as they have in years past under Carmen Brillo so I'm going to leave the overall coaching as neutral you get a full season of Antonio Pierce and not a half season of Josh McDaniel so that's a big thing um but I think the offensive line coach change is substantial enough for me to say we're going to leave this as neutral then at quarterback going to say slightly upgraded Jimmy garoppo was so bad for this team last year and only played a third of their snaps and they bring in Gardner muu we'll obviously talk a lot more about Gardner when we get to the quarterback breakdown here for the Deep dive but I am going to say slightly upgraded in the quarterback room at running back got to be downgraded they lose Josh Jacobs to the big contract to the Green Bay Packers all they did to supplement that was bring in Alexander Madison who was a bit of a tough watch last season and the sixth round pick Dylan La out of New Hampshire obviously counting on zamir white to step up there um but got to say downgraded based on the Rost uh the talent base at tight end definite upgrades they spend that first round pick on the ultra talented Brock Bowers who you could argue also should be factored in as an upgrade with the wide receiver room with how they're supposed to use him but we're going to just keep that in the tight end group for now they also bring in Harrison Bryant a very nice tight end three at this point and they lose Austin Hooper so very much upgraded with the tight ends wide receiver again just to keep things clean here uh with Brock Bowers listed as a tight end going to St neutral at wide receiver they let Hunter Renfro go they bring in some veteran depth in Michael gallop and Jaylen gon shouldn't be too much of a shift there with that wide receiver room from what they had last year and then on the offensive line to say to be determined they are losing the right side of their offensive line in Right Guard and right tackle two guys that played exceptionally well last year when I referred to this offensive line exceeding expectations you look at those names in Germaine L lumor and Greg van Ren not very well-known or high paid players but they certainly played above that pay grade last season but they brought in a hefty list of additions as well The Talented Jackson Powers Johnson should take one of those guard spots as a second round pick I like DJ glaze in the third round as a tackle Prospect and then some very capable backups in Cody white hair interior flexibility and Andrew Pete who after a decade of for some reason playing guard at 6'7 kicked out and played tackle for the Saints last year they signed him as tackle depth here so a lot of names brought in here and I think there is very much a world where this is actually a better offense defensive line than it was last year but it is going to open up some questions based on how well van Ren and alumor played last season then to the defense not a ton of movement here a lot of day three picks to fill out the depth but they did make that big splash on the interior of the defensive line a position group that very much needed it in getting Christian Wilkins the highest paid free agent this cycle obvious upgrades on the interior of the defensive line they do lose balow Nichols and Jerry Tillery who were not horrible for them last year but obviously that's a big deal bringing in Wilkins The Edge room however was completely untouched leaving that as neutral as well as the linebacker group the only thing they did there was bring in Tommy ikenberg in the fifth round as a depth piece for now and then in the cornerback room this one was tough to say they lost a pair of starters from last season amek Robertson goes to Detroit he was okay for them and then Marcus Peters yes they cut him late last season but he did play uh two-thirds of this team's snap so if we're comparing this group to last year's group you have to consider Marcus Peters there and the only additions to the group came on day three in The Talented but raw deam Maran Richardson and MJ Devonshire so they're counting on the existing talent to step up there in that cornerback room guys who as we'll see later are I would argue less proven than guys like amek Robertson and Marcus Peters but I can't say that this is for sure going to be a downgrade because this defense played really well down the stretch with some of those guys after they had cut Marcus Peters so going to say difficult to say on that could be better could be worse safety group staying neutral again all they did was add Trey Taylor in the seventh round of the draft and then the Special Teams untouched for good reason they have the best kicker punter duo in the league so if in your offseason the only true downgrade you had was at running back that's typically going to be a pretty good offseason for most teams and I would say for the Raiders they a good did a good job to kind of um push this I I would say competitive window not a championship window but push this competitive window forward I think last year they surprised me in establishing a better uh roster Talent based and I certainly gave them credit for heading into the season and I think they're looking to continue that in a bit of a competitive rebuild here for the Raiders that I can't really argue with based on how tough they were last year but before we break down this roster in complete depth let's talk about this coaching staff how they rank and stack up against the rest of the league as well as what this team is going to look like schematically on both sides of the ball and we will start with Antonio Pierce who very much deser deserved this shot as the head coach though it came seemingly out of nowhere they spent a lot of time wondering if Antonio Pierce is let's just face it qualified to become the official head coach of this team obviously his biggest qualification was the fact that this team rallied behind him as the head coach but beyond that he had just two years of experience as a coach in the NFL and it was as a linebacker coach so had even reached the coordinator level did of course play in the NFL for eight seasons had a heck of a an impressive career after coming into the league in 2001 as an undrafted free agent linebacker but obviously a lot to consider anytime you're hiring a coach that isn't necessarily a mastermind on either side of the ball he obviously has a defensive background he can coach linebackers and did an incredible job with these linebackers on this roster but if your coach is not going to bring that kind of x's and o's schematic advantage that the majority of head coaches in the league do bring he better bring something else to the table and with Antonio pierce it is that rah rah sort of Team Builder mentality culture Builder mentality that really worked for this Raiders team they formed an identity under this coach and it just reached a point where they couldn't really risk losing that identity be because it became this team's biggest asset and that identity is that of an ass kicking football team really capped off by that win over the Chiefs where they just punched them in the mouth on both sides of the ball ran the piss out of the football and anytime you can deete the Chiefs in this division it's going to open some eyeballs so I definitely felt like bringing Antonio Pierce back at least for another year to see where this goes was the right decision is he ultimately the highest upside coach for the Long Haul obvious L very to be determined I don't want to say yes or no at this point I definitely lean towards the idea of hey give me that schematic genius preferably on the offensive side of the ball so I would argue the odds are against him here but I'm a big fan and a big fan of what he accomplished last year I do rank him as the 24th best head coach in the NFL and in terms of that overall coach and culture ranking it is actually a little bit higher than where the Raiders as a team came in with a B minus grade 19th to 23rd but of course anytime you have a CEO style of head coach it's going to ultimately come down to the coordinators to give you some sort of x's and o's advantage and let's start with the offensive side of the ball as this team is going to make a shift towards Luke gy who has spent the last couple of years in Chicago after really being groomed under Matt leflour before that and definitely a coach that runs that that very typical wide Zone playaction heavy Shanahan McVey style offense a well documented scheme at this point and I would expect a lot of those principles to carry over to the Raiders offense here and I do think that's interesting because in terms of the running backs in place specifically with zamir white I don't know that he's necessarily the best outside Zone Runner I like him much better between the tackles on Gap and Duo and in terms of having a quarterback that's going to take the you know make the most out of play action deep shots I I don't know that specifically Gardner mshu is the best guy for that type of scheme I like mshu in more of a spread him out pick him apart style offense running a lot of rpos and how much Luke getsy is able to sort of thread this offense together thread those differences together is going to be really defining of what Luke's Frankl career could look like because you don't get a lot of third chances in this league and I think gsy can look at um some of his sort of ancestors or mentors if you will in leflour McVey Shanahan in their more pivot towards Gap Run games do more of that here with this Raiders team than he did in Chicago and have success with that as well as taking a look at really what Shane styken did with Gardner mshu running more quick hitting rpos tapping into the skill set of someone like Brock Bowers who this team just drafted those are things that didn't necessarily exist in his iteration of Justin fields's offense that I'm hoping he can kind of reshape his playbook in the right way one nice thing here is he's reunited with Devonte Adams who um at least under Matt leflour did an exceptional job of moving him around finding ways to isolate him to get one-on-one looks cuz he is still one of the more double teed wide receivers in the league so you're hoping some of that stuff can carry back over from years ago ultimately I don't have Luke getsy ranked all that favorably he is tied for the worst grade in the league for pass game coaching obviously a very harsh grade there my stance on that is while Justin Fields has his issues as a quarterback and is not a simple quar back to scheme up a passing game four there was still a lot of ugliness from the play calling side from Luke gsy and I think is very much unproven in terms of scheming up the passing game but I do rank the Raiders much more favorably in terms of Run game coaching with a B minus grade really kind of smack dab in the middle of the league 12th to 17th in terms of the rankings Luke gy has orchestrated some good run games in Chicago um but on top of that the existing staff here for the Raiders did do a really good job scheming up the Run game and I think you'll see some carryover uh there as well to help out Luke getsy so a little bit more favorable there um but then in terms of the defensive coordinator here Patrick Graham this to me is with all due respect to Antonio pierce the biggest asset in this coaching staff that the Raiders have I'm a big fan of Patrick Graham I put the up arrow on him because I think he is destined for a head coaching opportunity very likely elsewhere at this point because it's pretty unlikely that they would move on from Pierce and promote Patrick Graham but he was getting head coach interviews uh this off season rightfully so it goes back to orchestrating some really overachieving defenses with the Giants and then with this Raiders team he's done a phenomenal job and he runs a very very adaptable multiple defense for those that watched The Patriot schematic breakdown talking about the 335 base defense that the Patriots run I think a lot of those influences came from what Patrick Graham did with the New York Giants and the Raiders under Patrick Graham will run a lot of that 335 or 51 front stuff um but with the Personnel they've had it hasn't always made sense for the Raiders and Patrick Graham has gone in other directions still using a wide variety of different fronts sometimes they're having their Edge rushers put their hands in the dirt sometimes they're standing up he does a very good job mixing things up as well in terms of when he's blitzing when he's not blitzing but he also does a really good job mixing up the types of coverages he's going to call even though he stems from completely different backgrounds much more of a manstyle defense under Bill bich and even under Steve spagnolo a lot more of that press man mentality spent time in more of a you know fire zone Blitz heavy 34 system under Mike petton but has run completely different stuff uh in in his recent years with the Giants he was a very cover three heavy uh play caller and then with the Raiders here last year they actually ran a ton of two shell stuff they were very high in terms of cover four cover six and cover two those made up of about 50% of their coverage calls and then they ran a lot of off Zone cover three pattern match um you know three seam stuff basically everything he could call to protect his cornerback room which was really smart he looked at the guys he had and he was like I can't do the Press man stuff that I used to do with some of these other coordinators and hell when he was with the Giants that was the same deal they didn't have a ton of cornerback talent but he's really proven that he can Co coach and communicate and mix up these Zone calls on the back end um to present a lot of uh confusion and and different challenges for opposing offenses so a very complex multiple adaptable scheme that takes a really good teacher coach and Communicator to pull off that sort of defense and and Patrick Graham has shown that he can do that so I definitely again view him as one of the ascending defensive Minds in the league and in terms of ranking him there's a lot of great defensive coordinators in the league right now so his 19th to 22nd ranking for pass game coaching might sound harsh but that is with a very firm b-grade and then the run defense coaching a little bit higher again A B grade but in that massive cluster in the middle of the league ranking 11th to 26th when you really break this down there's a lot of really good defensive coaches in the league right now so um those head coach opportunities are a little bit harder to come by and even a really good coach like Patrick Graham might not stand out in terms of the rankings there but obviously someone I really like overall it's a fun staff every piece with something to prove and definitely a trio of dudes that I'm pulling for this season but let's get to the player side of things breaking down each position group how they rank against the rest of the league and that will start with the quarterback room the quarterback room that all of you that think think the Raiders are ranked too high are going to be pointing to and saying look at that group with Gardner mshu and Aiden oconnell how the hell is a team with those quarterbacks ranked as the 24th team in the league and I I do agree with some of that sentiment I have the Raiders ranked 27th at quarterback for passing grade um they ended up 29th in terms of the overall quarterback ranking once you factor in the the Run multiplier where these guys are very um static don't give you anything in that regard and I think you could even argue that they could finish even lower than that considering most of the guys ranked below them are young hopefully ascending passers right but a couple of things here number one I I do think the Raiders as far as justifying their overall team ranking have done a very good job to build a team identity and to establish talent that can work around a point guard style quarterback we'll look at the weapons in a little bit but they want to run the ball they should play really good defense this year they have a approach to winning that frankly worked late last season with an Aiden no Connell worked for Garder muu and the Colts last year who went seven- six on that team and is an approach that can work if you're looking to be that frisky Underdog type type of team that makes for a really hard out every single week but then the other side of things here is I think I am just a little bit higher on Gardner muu than I see a lot of people talking about him not a lot higher I'm not a psychopath I mostly understand what Gardner muu is but I think he's very much earned this opportunity and ranking him who I do project to be the week one starter for this team despite the uh people in Aiden o connell's camp but ranking him 27th in the league as a passing quarterback is giving him his dues as a guy that has done it in the NFL and again has earned this opportunity now I know this could be viewed as handpicking some stats here but if you could throw out a 2020 season with the Jags where this team was actively working against Gardner menu a team that very much wanted the number one pick to get Trevor Lawrence that year they benched Garder menu because they were afraid he was good enough that he might win them a game or two that loses them Trevor Lawrence if you could throw that season out and throw out a week 18 start with the backups on the Eagles in 2022 where the team lost 52 to 26 Gardner mchu is a 500 quarterback throughout his career and I'm not a QB wins guy far from it but I think that does mean a little bit more for a potential game manager Bridge starter type of guy as opposed to if we're nitpicking and debating Elite quarterbacks right the fact of the matter is Gardner minu has won his fair share of games in the NFL and did it just last season for a Colts team that had similar Talent remember they were a week 18 win against the Texans away from going to the playoffs last year mostly with Gardner mchu and when you look at who he is as a quarterback I've pointed to the fact that they want a point guard someone that can run an NFL offense get through his progressions go from one to two to three quickly for the most part get the ball where it's supposed to go on time specifically in the short to intermediate game and lean on a group of good weapons to do a lot of the work for him they also want the Run game to be a large focus of this offense and as we hinted at with Luke gsy I'm really hoping that they can tap into the RPO game The Run pass option where they're going to lean on the Run game but they can have elements baked into this offense just as Gardner mchi really thrived in in Shane stens offense in Indianapolis read The Leverage of Defenders and if they overcommit to the run or are out of position you can fire that slant to Devonte Adams you can flip the ball out to a brock Bowers who's a menace after the catch be quite literally a point guard for this offense and then the thing that Gardner muu brings to the table that I think sets him above of Aiden oconnell in this debate is third down playmaking that is where I think I do end up a little bit higher in Gardner mshu where even going back to his rookie season in Jacksonville even if he is one of the least if not the least physically capable starter in the NFL right now in terms of mobility and arm Talent he has those instincts to feel the rush to navigate the pocket to use his feet when he needs to buy time to create throwing windows and high percentage looks down the field he has a little bit of a playmaking it Factor about him now because of the lack of arm Talent he will put the ball In Harm's Way much more than those high ranking quarterbacks some of it is he tries throws that his arm lets him down on and the ball can't quite get where he needs it to go and some of it is he does have accuracy issues as much as we overrate arm Talent it does help you command the football and as long as your mechanics are good theoretically it should lead to good accuracy but when you can't command that football it does increase your margin for error and that does work against Gardner menu but if you're talking about a guy that on first and second down he can play point guard distribute the ball make the right reads and then on third down if you get in a tough third and eight you have a guy that can actually make a play and move the chains and keep a drive alive that's very Alex smithian right you can win football games with that formula if things go right around them and I think they look at some of that playmaking and that's why they signed him as opposed to Aiden oconnell which is a good transition to Aiden who while I'm not projecting to start here I will admit was much better than I expected as a rookie I really question why this team benched Jimmy Garoppolo and went to Aiden oconnell and for the first few games I was tooting my own horn saying I told you so they should go back to Jimmy Garoppolo but they stuck with it and as the season went on okell got more comfortable and he actually started to make some really nice throws had some pretty nice games in there but there are some things that really hold him back he like Gardner mshu really lacks physical tools definitely feels like a quarterback that you kind of know over time is going to settle in as a backup caliber guy I think his arm Talent is actually a little bit better than Gardner mshu but that's not saying much if he were the week one starter he would still be towards the bottom three or five in the league in terms of raw arm Talent he's not an athlete and especially when you talk about the creativity to make something happen when there is nothing there it it's non-existent he doesn't have a pocket feel he takes bad sacks he very seldom breaks out of the pocket gets gets into scramble drill and and seldom gives you second reaction plays that again I think they really are excited to get some of that with Garder mchu and then the other thing is like he's still very young I don't think he has the processing of a gardner muu quite yet to consistently hit the first read granted it was probably above average for a rookie quarterback but still a ways to go in that department um in terms of pushing the ball into Harm's Way in the structure of the offense he's just young and I think menu gives you a little bit more in that department but to finish this by giving Aiden oconnell some credit I think um in terms of pushing the ball downfield maybe tapping into guys like Devonte Adams and Trey Tucker further down the field and if this is going to be more of that playaction shot style offense um as low as I was on Dan no connell's arm Talent he is probably a better deep ball passer than Gardner mshu so if that really is the style of offense that they want if Luke gety wants to be a Shanahan style offense I think oconnell is probably a better fit for that whereas if they want to do more of the quick Distributing stuff the pass game in a lot of ways as a part of the Run game as we described with rpos and that kind of stuff and then Gardner menu is the guy so I think you get the point it's not the highest ranking quarterback room but as we transition to the Weaponry here you can start to see how this thing might work I have them ranked very well in terms of Weaponry with a B+ grade in a cluster ranking sixth to 12th in the NFL a lot of teams have good groups of weapons it's where the league is going but the Raiders are one of those teams and my favorite thing about this group is not just that they have high-end talent but how often do I talk about complimentary skill sets everybody having their role and being put in a position to succeed relative to their skill sets every single piece on this Raiders offense makes complete sense to me and you frankly have pretty much every archetype you could ask for in a group of weapons with this team's starters you have your Alpha your number one wide receiver Devonte Adams who even though he is 32 years old is a wide receiver that has never relied on speed as a player but even then he can still run he still separated deep last season and it was just very Hit or Miss in terms of I mean if you look at like the first six weeks of the Season he was burning dudes and Jimmy Garoppolo was just missing him so that led to a drop off in production but he still made a ton of plays as the season went on the only reason I do have a down arrow on Devonte Adams and and probably wouldn't put him in that true tier one of absolutely Elite wide receivers at this point is the age and the fact that his hands were underwhelming last season there was a point around midseason where he was like Hey Raiders feed me you got to funnel the offense through me and they would do that and he actually had some drops and big moments that was like dude you you can't go out and demand the football and then not come down with catches that you have for the last four years and he had nine drops registered to him last season he had 11 over the last three years combined so nine out of his 20 drops since 2019 came last season his contested catch win rate also plummeted he has averaged a 47% contested catch win rate over the last three seasons is 42% on his career and was down to a 35% last season so a few more times counting on him to win those tough catches he wasn't doing it so it could just be a outlier season in terms of the ball skills relative to his career or he could be getting older and isn't quite what he used to be but that's really the KNX I still see a ton of Separation I still see an Elite route Runner that Elite release off the line of scrimmage and someone that can threaten the defense to all three levels and be that true number one wide receiver for this team so that role that box is is checked then you have jacobe Meyers who fills your physical slot wide receiver role and he was really good last season to the point that he actually stepped outside and had some wins to the perimeter that we've really never seen for jacobe Meers but for the most part you are going to want him in the slot running digs Slants Crossing routes someone that is tough after the catch he's smart to sit down in zones and I actually didn't realize um jacobe Myers has some of the best contested catch win percentage frankly I've I've ever seen um now his contested catches are typically Slants and digs where a guy is a half second behind him and kind of draped over him so it's different than like a t Higgins or Devonte Adams or Mike Evans but jacobe Meers is a career 62% contested catch ball winner and has never been below 52% so he is ultra reliable over the middle of the field I went to compare that to some similar style pass catchers in terms of the type of routes that they're typically targeted on Michael Thomas was the closest thing I could come to there was at 60% Tyler Boyd at 52% Travis Kelce at 50% so in terms of throw the ball out in front of this this dude let him come down with a tough catch he's extremely reliable even if he isn't the the best athlete in the world and then what else do you need how about a deep threat Trey Tucker showed last season that he can absolutely be that guy 17.4 yards per catch on 34 targets last season and 15 of those 34 targets came in the last month of the season so a rookie last season that got comfortable as the year went on was a little bit older coming out of Cincinnati and um with that age came a little bit more experience in terms of Route running and some of the experience to be a little bit more than a deep threat he made some tough catches towards the sideline in that last month of the season so I think the arrow is very much pointing up on Trey Tucker I think he showed everything you could have hoped for for a third round pick and for what you need him to be within this offense as someone that is going to see probably the fifth most Targets on this team most of those targets will come deep and they will probably be high percentage open targets because they'll scheme up deep looks and it'll be okay if he's open throw it so you don't need the guy to be a superstar you don't need him to be anything other than what he is but within the confines of of this offense he makes total sense and I I love the fit and then you get to your two tight ends and this is really where the whole thing comes together because as we've talked about they want to run the ball they want to play point guard they want to use rpos and distribute the ball in the short to intermediate game especially and having the flexibility to come out with both of these players I I I would bet the house that the Raiders lead the NFL in 12 Personnel this year in that both these guys will be out there that will take Trey Tucker off the field quite a lot but the fact that the Raiders could at any given moment come out and smash you with two tight ends you have a guy in Brock Bowers that I think can block in line but is lethal in terms of being a wing blocker for outside Zone to reach outside linebackers and safeties you can go split Zone and have him go cross formation you can go with a strong eye formation and use him as a fullback and then from any number of those alignments he can come out and receive handoffs you can flip the ball out to him in the flat you can run an RPO off a lant you can go while leak and get him lost there are so many possibilities with this combination this pick was criticized by some cuz it's like oh no Michael Mayer is useless now no Michael Mayer is a essential piece of this because it allows Brock Bowers to be the elite playmaking weapon that he frankly has the potential to be as a rookie cuz if you just took Brock Bowers to be okay you're our true starting tight end you're going to line up in line a bunch you're not going to be putting him in a position where he can be really as I project a top five run after catch weapon in the National Football League the second he touches the field and that's not even mentioning putting him out as a slot wide receiver where he is a monster running routes on two-way goes he was just one of the best football players in the draft but fell to the 13th spot because it was a usage question and he needed to find the right fit I think he absolutely did with the Raiders and to put that role on top of three very logical uh well complimentary skill sets if that makes sense as we broke down with the wide receivers it just is frankly a thing of beauty in terms of how this thing is constructed and then you get to Michael Mayer Who we've hinted at is an essential piece of the puzzle here he's a he's their wi tight end and to me that is exactly who Michael Mayer is fullsize tight end a willing technically sound blocker that should only get better here in year two a really nice run after catch threat will win tough contested catches just as he did last season even though he split time basically evenly with Austin Hooper and only had 304 yards in his rookie season he was five for n on contested catches I think we saw everything in the flashes in which they used him to believe that he is a very capable tight end not the fastest guy not going to be the best separator in the world but you literally do not need those skills from him when you have everybody else in here and his existence allows you to again open up Brock Bowers so frankly I was so pleasantly surprised to kind of break this group down and project this as really one of the potential best group of weapons in the NFL and I think once you get past that Elite crop of uh weapon rooms if you will from San Fran Miami Philly Minnesota the Raiders might be fifth in terms of just pure upside if Brock Bowers can be what we described if mayor and Tucker can take leaps in year two maybe Devonte Adams splits the difference between the drop off he had last year and what he was in 2022 for the Raiders this could be a really really special group and if you want to know how the Raiders R 24th this group is is a huge part of that now we didn't really mention the running backs um they'll play their hand here I still expect Amir Abdullah at least early on to be the primary third down running back he's a very good pass protector he is really established within this role at this point he's got sure enough hands he runs good routes he's capable in this role but they did draft Dylan La who is a chance to be a more Juiced up version of an Amir Abdullah runs really good routes was hyper productive at New Hampshire I think for the Long Hall Dylan La has a chance to be something like a Darren sprouls Danny Woodhead all the way up to I mean Austin Eckler maybe Eckler had a little bit more size and Power in the Run game but that kind of Premium receiving back maybe what Tariq Cohen was when healthy that type of dude I think Dylan la has the skill set to surprise as a sixth round pick and just provide another headache that makes sense within the structure of this offense right so they got pieces and then zamir white will be back there he's actually been better than you might have expected in the receiving game looked effective on 17 targets last season um but still kind of learning how to pass protect and does not bring the sort of Route running prowess but in terms of the screen game or just flip out to him in the flat he can do some stuff there as well so it'll be a big rotation I think obviously not going to make or break this room um but maybe the nicest thing you can say about the those three running backs is Alexander Madison shouldn't have to touch the field on third down where he was a disgrace for the Vikings last year Not only was he widely inefficient but had six drops on targets out of the backfield last year now we do need to talk about the depth before we move on they did sign Michael Gallop he to me will be a true backup within this offense Trey Tucker alone is going to be in a rotation with Brock Bowers so there's only so many snaps to go around here but as a wide receiver four for Michael Gallup yeah absolutely he's had a falling off from being a wide receiver two for Dallas injuries have certainly caught up with him but for this role that's fine you've got Jaylen gon who's a good backup to Trey Tucker as a deep threat has had his moments for the Chargers and then Tulu Griffin I think is probably a practice squad stash but if anything were to happen to either Brock Bowers or jacobe Meyers and you want to put another guy back into the offense that has really good run after catch ability for some of those rpos and quick passes Tulu Griffin he stood out to me and I thought he should have been drafted I thought he was one of those guys where his play speed was much better than his testing speed so natural at transition iing to Runner after catch someone that might make this team as a return specialist as well especially with the new rules but runs with a full head of steam and is a real handful to get down after the catch so someone to keep an eye on specifically as a return man in the event of injuries and then it is a massive competition between undrafted talents that probably won't make the team and then you've got your backup tight ends you've got Harrison Bryant decent receiving SK skills would probably be the Brock Bowers replacement in the event of injuries obviously wouldn't see the target share but in terms of being that undersized Wing tight end that could still technically do some of the stuff in the Playbook that you do with Brock Bowers that would be Harrison Bryant and then Zack Gentry would be your Michael Mayer backup as the kind of blocking inline y tight end so there is your group of weapons in my opinion an exceptional group a really fun group and I'm just excited to see how Luke gety makes this thing work and I'll be a little disappointed if um he's not able to be creative with some of these pieces but we've talked about the emphasis on the Run game let's talk about the actual running backs here it's unfortunately not the most dynamic running back room though I do like zamir white to an extent I think he has shown to be as advertised as a third round pick coming out of Georgia I compared him to Damen Harris as that kind of straight line power back that can get the job done at the next level there's not a lot of rushing creativity whether that's Vision in the back field when you know the the block the the the play isn't perfectly blocked up he's not going to make a bunch of guys miss or find a different hole consistently or use light feet to change lanes that's not really who he is and then out in space he's just not very creative he'll put a stiff Farm or a truck on you he'll fight for two or three yards sometimes he'll show contact balance and break a tackle but very much a no-nonsense north and south Runner they leaned on him late in last season and he produced there's been plenty of positive reviews about him early in the off season you look at how this team wants to um come out and approach this offense I think he will see a high workload and I actually really like him for Fantasy Football just took him in my subscriber Dynasty league and for any sort of redraft formats or if you're playing on Underdog fantasy are sponsor for today's video if you want to draft zamir white I say do it I see no less than 12 carries a game for zamir white which by today's standards are very good I think his 4.3 yards per attempt last season sounds about right to me so you're looking at 50 to 60 yards a week with some potential for you know 20 30 yard chunk run in there and a lot of touchdown potential as well because he's the guy they're going to go to at the goal line the type of back to me that they ride out for these two remaining years on his rookie contract and then maybe look to either get him back for cheap or or replace him now they did sign Alexander Madison there's going to be the threat that he's going to eat into zamir White's workload here but unless he shows to be a dramatically better running back than he was last season I I think this team is going to have a hard time looking at Alexander Madison as anything other than than a true backup maybe only getting two or three touches a game especially if you think this is going to be as we've described an RPO heavy offense where a lot of those quick hitting passes are an extension of the Run game where if you use some mental gy gymnastics some of those jacobe Meyers Brock Bowers Devonte Adams targets towards the sideline or quick hitting rpos are in a way handoffs you factor those in you fact in that Abdullah and La should play a role on third down I don't think zamir White's going to be getting too tired or give this team too much of a reason to take him off the field on those early Downs so Madison struggled last year and I just he's a he's a similar style back to zamir white but just doesn't have the ability to hit a hole as hard as zamir white and doesn't have the power at the point of contact that zamir white has so I'm just not too afraid of Alexander Madison as I draft zamir white in my fantasy leagues I think this is mostly White's backfield now in terms of ranking this group relative to other running back um rooms in the league it just doesn't rank that high zumir white is very much unproven I think he's a capable back should be a a very good starter for them but does have a lack of upside with some of the lack of creativity and overall athleticism and then not having any really notable threats after that that's where you get this running back room having a CG grade ranking 28th to 30th in the league I do think they produce more than that because they're going to lean into a guy like zamir white much more so that's not a where I would rank him in terms of fantasy football but in terms of actual efficiency and level of play relative to the rest of the league that is flooded with good running backs um yeah they they rank pretty low there so he's good enough to allow this team to do what they want to do on the ground but shouldn't really Elevate this run game too much either and then as we mentioned they are getting effectively nothing from the quarterbacks in the Run game so no boost getting added from read options and that sort of thing but then you look at the offensive line and you're back to a group that's a good contributor to this offense ironically they come out with the exact same um total unit grades that we gave the Chargers a B minus in both pass blocking and run blocking tied with the Chargers for overall offensive line ranking 11th to 12th ironic of course cuz we just did the Chargers and they're in the same division but it is a very solid unit with really only one question mark in my opinion in theer Munford which we might as well just start there and we'll work right to left they believe in him and while I would say he's a question mark after watching the tape on this team I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from the mford a seventh round pick out of Ohio State a couple years ago someone I was very low on coming out but I mean seventh round pick out of Ohio State why not draft the guy and he's definitely already exceeded those expectations but after watching the tape I can't fully blame the Raiders for saying I think we can get by with him as a as our right tackle and he's still young there's no reason to believe he can't continue to get better I would say he has the size he has the toughness he clearly has the work ethic and the willingness to get better he's just missing some of the athletic measures that you would typically like to see for a starting tackle in the league and ultimately that will likely reduce his upside long term and it certainly reduces his pass blocking efficiency currently that's where the question mark comes in is with his pass protection which gets a 67 grade from me that's in the replacement level tier he's not what I would describe as a complete Turn Style but he definitely takes his losses especially when this team asks him to be on an island and block one-on-one his feet are just very slow he can lose the edge and he can lose on inside counters but I think his hands are pretty good even when he loses he's able to kind of you know get a grip on a guy and go for a ride and slow a guy down and his anchor is very good so there's aspects of him in pass protection that worked and when he is your only weak link and you have a superstar left tackle you're able to use a guy like Michael Mayer Brock Bowers or Slide the offensive line to give the guy help when you only have one weak link it's much much easier to work around that and we saw that with the Raiders last year they actually protected really well and then in terms of run blocking he has that tenacity he has the play strength and is a really good downhill blocker this reminds me a little bit of the Cowboys right tackle in teren steel who ended up starting a lot of games um as an undrafted talent coming into the league almost identical size year three he had a breakout Year got a big contract and then took a step backwards in year four it's it's a very similar player and as the Cowboys have shown you can work with that so you've got some question marks there but I was pleasantly surprised there and they actually have some options as depth as well let's just hit on those considering this is the one question mark they signed Andrew Pete who strangely enough uh on the wrong side of 30 after a very well compensated but abysmal career as a guard for the Saints they ended up finally playing him at tackle which is something I've been frankly asking for for years cuz he's 6'7 and I never really saw it from him at guard but he played tackle and I thought at least gave them better football than he's given the Saints in a long time there he is a good run blocker um I think he's at this point very good insurance if you get through four weeks and the good games you got from theer mford as a pass protector last year turn out to be a blip they can very quickly bench him go to Andrews Pete and patch that hole they also DJ glaze third round pick out of Maryland I think the highest upside tackle in this group I really liked delmare glaze going by DJ apparently really fluid athlete moved much better on film than he ended up testing I thought he showed a lot of good flashes of tenacity in the Run game if they want to run more wide Zone here and they want more of an athlete at tackle man the rest of these four guys are really good athletes if again if they really want to just reach block all the time and a wide Zone rushing um game I think glaze might be the best um stretch Blocker in this tackle room but he does have to get better with his hands specifically in pass protection does not protect his chest and loses against Power quite a lot so I've got my eye on him probably not going to see him here in year one but I think was a really good use of a third round pick in a guy that I think has the traits to someday be a starter really good arm length too 35 in so if he can just improve his hand usage from a technique standpoint those arms could be a weapon for him but that basically summarizes your right tackle question mark and then it's it's pretty straightforward after that you have Dylan parm who uh um listed on our Lads right now they say he's going to switch from left guard to Right Guard you could flip these two very easily it doesn't really make a difference perhaps the thinking there is that um if mford is the question mark you'd rather put the established guy next to him as opposed to the rookie could also be the case that PM's natural position is Right Guard as opposed to left guard but either way I think he's settled in as a very capable guard he's not the biggest guy his play strength isn't anything special but at this point he's very technically sound he's a great athlete I think more wide Zone will uh be extremely easy for him to handle he's really good at running his feet as a pass protector um it's just some of the play strength stuff you can see lead to some losses in both phases but a very firm solid starter in the league Andre James at Center has been really one of the pleasant surprises of this entire Raiders team he is maybe the only saving grace um left on this team from the John guden era I guess him and Colton Miller but this was John Gruden's dude kind of out of nowh no where made him the starting center and year by year by year he has just gotten better and better and better you could even argue the up Arrow should be on Andre James because for like five straight Seasons he's become a more and more efficient blocker very solid player nearing top 10 Center in the NFL category so I love that very versatile player too he's he's balanced in terms of play strength and athleticism so whatever type of run scheme you want to ask him to run here he can be that Pivot Point at the center for it then you put in Jackson Powers Johnson presumably as the left guard very very little reason to believe that he can't step in right away and be a capable guard extremely technically sound and strong pass protector also good play strength good tenacity as a run blocker um I think his athleticism is NFL adequate I don't think it's anything special the only reason he really quote unquote fell to the second round is potential injury concerns but I I I don't know it hasn't been there for him in college and I have no reason to believe he's going to be hurt as a rookie so I guess we'll see there and it's not like he fell that far right still goes firmly in the second round which you know I had a first to a second round grade on him so is that even really a fall I I don't know but he's he's damn good Prospect has a chance to be like a stud guard or even the long-term Center but I think Andre James has that job for for the foreseeable future love them kind of doubling down on the whole Run game physicality aspect of of this football team and I'm definitely Assuming he's good fills out uh what was the biggest need for this offensive line so you love that and then by the way they have a franchise Superstar left tackle in Colton Miller who has everything you could possibly ask for he has the length he has the size he has the athleticism he's got the play strength he's got the established record of success relative to a lot of Superstar tackles he's been extremely durable as well missed the last kind of quarter of last season nothing you're you're too worried about here though he's 29 years old and is barely missed any time in his his entire career so it's probably not fitting that we talked about him last cuz he is their Cornerstone piece they can leave him on on an island and slide in other directions and that is a massive benefit um towards everybody's efficiency but especially someone like the mford that might have some questions which we talked about so a very very good offensive line probably an underrated offensive line especially once you get into the tape and see that Bayer mford is not that bad and he's the kind of guy that I typically throw major question questions on and you know we'll we'll really go after a team like hey why did you not address right tackle to a bigger degree but I'm just being honest I really did think the film on him was was pretty solid now you got to talk about a little bit more depth there at interior I like the Cody whitehair signing if there are some injury questions on Jackson Powers Johnson or if you get halfway through the year and he's really struggling sometimes these offensive linemen just surprise you and Aren't aren't what you thought they were as prospects if that's the case you don't want to count on Cody whitehair but as an emergency Band-Aid to become your weak link yeah this group wouldn't be quite as good but it's it's still an adequate depth piece and and Andrew's Pete as well for all of his deficiencies as an overpaid starting left guard for the Saints as a backup guard it's it's not so bad so they have options there as well and then you know it'll probably be a competition for your ninth and 10th offensive lineman between a bunch of unproven pieces and then you also have to note that they do get contributions from the combination of Michael May Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers I think Mayer is going to take another step up in terms of consistency as a run Blocker in year two it is just really tough as good of a prospect as he was as a run blocker it's just really tough to be a great run blocker out the gate at this position but plenty of Reason to Believe he'll at least get the job done there um and then Brock Bower is you know digging out a defensive end with his hand in the dirt as a y tight end he can do it but probably not very consistently depending on the size of the defensive end but with how he's going to be used here I think he's going to be borderline a Kyle yusi level blocking threat as a move blocker when they put him in the slot he's going to seal that perimeter he's got to kind of prove that he can accomplish that at the NFL level and this team has to prove that they use him in the right way before you credit him as this Elite perimeter blocking threat but plenty of Reason again to believe that that can be an asset there so a very positive outlook for the just blocking and offensive line overall ranking in the top third of the league so as you put this whole piece together it's it's interesting because you have major questions at quarterback coaching even the running back room is is kind of are all very tightly knit but they were 24th in Run game dvoa last year with Josh Jacobs so it's not crazy to see this come in at 29th um but overall like there's obviously you know it's an offensive League there a lot of focus on offense for them to come in as the 25th best offense with Gardner muu at quarterback and a defense that we're about to break down that we think is pretty good it's a it's a workable offense that that based on matchups and some of the unique pieces that they have to attack you with can have some really explosive games I do believe that but at the end of the day if you want to play ball control offense and run the ball a bunch you've got to stay within your own game script and in command of things and that requires a good defense so let's talk about this Raiders defense and if they're good enough to get that done so that they can play Within the formula that that they want to play and that's going to start up front with a really good Raiders defensive line I have them ranked with a B+ grade 7th to eighth overall for defensive line 9th to 13th in pass rush with a b-grade there and then B+ in terms of run defense actually ranking second to Fourth for dline run defense and this unit is man highlighted feels like an understatement but carried by feels feels like an overstatement but what I'm trying to say is Max Crosby is that dude this dude has checked so many freaking boxes over the last two or three years it's honestly unreal like rewind three years ago I wasn't sure that this guy was even a like number like high-end number two pass rusher then he proved that he's a like legit number one and then over the last couple of years really backto back years he has established himself within that Elite premium tier like truly truly Elite number one Edge rushers right in the mix in my opinion with Micah Parsons Nick Bosa and TJ Watt and of course miles Garrett and it has been a true joy to watch him Ascend to that level and like where do you want to start with him we'll just pick somewhere and go from there I mean he's an underrated athlete he's got ideal length he's got speed he's got power all the real physical traits that are required to reach that level of edge Defender but he's got an excellent pass rushing skill set he'll pull off spin moves and swim moves and he sets moves up and he understands how to manipulate tackles and uh put together a pass rush plan attack certain matchups so the Perfect Blend of traits finesse and power as a rusher but on top of that I mean while he's within that Elite tier of edge rushers I might say he's the fifth best pass rusher out of the group he might be the best run Defender out of that group and the best run defending Edge rusher in the NFL and that of course comes from traits and football IQ and length and all that stuff but on top of it all it's just effort and a motor that never stops with this guy and at the end of the day this play style he has as this true demon with his hair on fire it couldn't be any more perfect of an aesthetic paired with the Raiders brand him with the tats the nickname Mad Max it's just such a joy he deserves every single bit of Praise that he has received maybe stopping just short of uh was it Rob Ryan that said he's the best defensive player he's ever watched I'm not going to quite go that far but he's playing at a Hall of Fame level and when you have a player like this who's one of the five best defensive players in football he's going to make up for some holes that this defense might have and Elevate this defense to some special Heights just as he's frankly done the last two years I would argue this Raiders defense has overachieved him being that game wrecking numbers changer up front is a massive massive part of that so everything starts with Max Crosby but but now it doesn't necessarily have to end with Max Crosby as it did last season as they go out and sign the highest paid free agent this cycle I guess you you can't quite say that cuz Kurt Cousins existed but um the highest paid non-quarterback this cycle in Christian Wilkins who like Mad Max is one of the best run Defenders at his position and good luck to anybody trying to run towards more often than not the right side of the Raiders defense but they also might put Christian Wilkins more opposite of Max Crosby and spread out their talent in terms of run defense but with Wilkins pound for pound he might be the best run defender in the league but he's not via or Dexter Lawrence in terms of being that 350 lb super freak in the middle of a defensive line he is much more quote unquote average size for a defensive tackle plays at about 315 lbs which is plenty of weight to hold his own to even anchor against double teams though he's not going to do that quite as well as like a Dexter Lawrence or a vitaa but in terms of um pound-for-pound play strength specifically within his core and his arms to shed blocks and his overall technique in terms of pad level accuracy um and consistency with his hands to stack the inside of a of an offensive lineman's shoulder pads and then to Peak to break down the run with his eyes and his mind and then to um deconstruct and get off blocks at the point of attack especially if he finds himself one-on-one with a guy effectively what we're talking about is the Madden block shed rating no one should be higher in the NFL than Christian Wilkins and I think this team quite clearly has the best run defending Duo on a defensive line in the league and that's where you get to um being very very close to the top in terms of overall defensive line run defense even though they lack depth and have some holes outside of these two guys if they had good pieces next to these guys I mean they would be number one and probably number one by a decent margin but we'll get to Cs and Jenkins and Butler and Wilson needless to say they're nothing too special in terms of run defense but as a pass rusher on Christian Wilkins he's good um probably a little overrated in that department I would say strictly speaking as a pass rusher ideally he'd be your third best piece he's about a 40 pressure six to seven sack type of guy on an average season last year he did see an uptick in sacks and pressures as Miami had to really get into into scheming up some kind of open Rush looks and stunts and stuff once those Edge rushers went down but as far as just watching the tape one-on-one he's just again he's just good he has some power he has some quickness he has a slight variety of pass rush moves he can win with a swim he can rip through you it's just there's nothing he does that's overly dominant he's not that good of an athlete his first step doesn't give him too much of an advantage in that apartment so it's not that he won't help the pass rush he will it's not that that wasn't a part of like the massive amount of money he got paid it's it's a part of his game but it really is that he is a superstar run Defender and a good pass rushing defensive tackle but that's obviously the focal point of this defense is that duo up front I do want to return to the edge room as we continue this conversation uh with Malcolm C who I would say from a production standpoint has a chance to be this team's second most productive pass rusher and if you look at how he played in the second half of the season last year that should be expected and not controversial at all and frankly whether or not that was an outlier who he is moving forward or somewhere in between could be a wild card for this defense as a whole because from week nine on this man put up 38 press pressures in eight sacks in the second half of the season and if you double that throughout the course of a full season you're talking about someone putting up like lowend number one Edge numbers but in the eight weeks before that he had just 14 pressures and no sacks granted on um a decent amount less playing time and in the first two years of his career after being a third round pick out of Buffalo he played just over 100 snaps in two seasons so it took him a long time to get on the field and in 2022 he had just two pressures on 48 pass rush snaps so again a huge wild card here in terms of the type of production you're going to get from Malcolm Co but you watch his skill set and there's reason to believe that next to Wilkins and Crosby he can at least be a really good piece of this pass rush if not more than that to the point where he ascends to being a good number two rusher long long term opposite of Max Crosby especially heading into a contract year here with a little extra motivation but he's got that kind of Speedy bendy contortionists um profile that can just be a real handful for offensive tackles to handle he's got of course the speed and bend and get off to threaten The Edge that becomes a threat on inside counters where his feet are quick enough to do stuff like that but because he's only 6'2 he's able to get under guys pads and whether that's bending through with a rip move with good leverage or actually getting under him for a bull rush he has that at his disposal and could do that even more efficiently as he gets better at it so there's a lot to like with him but it is worth noting here that they don't really trust him at least yet in terms of run defense he's a actually adequate Splash play run Defender he actually amounted 27 PFF run stops last year that was 41st among Edge rushers despite only playing 148 run defense stops so in terms of finding the ball and making some impact plays as a run Defender they were on tape um but he does have negative plays where his lack of size and inability to really set a hard Edge does show up and I think that is a big reason why they would take him off the field on rundowns and I think there is also something to be said about keeping him fresh for pass rush Downs that helps him sustain that efficiency that he showed as a pass rusher that we talked about it's not that he can't surprise us and show to be a better run Defender technically speaking his size is very comparable to like Samson abuk which he should just be watching Samson aukum tape all offseason because that dude at an identical size is one of the better run defending Edge rushers in the league and there's some similar traits there but until he earns the respect of the Raiders to be a more consistent run Defender they're going to be looking for um you know different packages to supplement that and different players to play that sort of five tech so you will get some different kind of um fiveman fronts and some of those more bichan or the 335 stuff where you're getting guys like maybe Byron young in your two to um show what he can do as more of a five tech guys like Adam Butler but the guy that they're really hoping can take that step is Tyrie Wilson who was a seventh uh the seventh overall pick in last year's draft and was a colossal disaster for this team but it is too early to just give up on this guy but what's unfortunate with Wilson it was is it was both phases where he really struggled and because we're on this conversation about run defense let's start there and and that would be such a good starting point for Tyree Wilson to just play five Tech play a little four ey at times use that 275lb frame with great length play with better pad level set a hard Edge get off some blocks make some run stops become a more trusted piece for this defensive line rotation so that he can start to develop as a pass rusher after that but it wasn't a huge surprise based on his Texas Tech tape that he just didn't play the run with the intensity that he could at his size and the awareness that he could at his size at Texas Tech it felt like guys would just just run past his Lane all the time and he just wouldn't see the ball so they got to find a way to coach that into him cuz from a trait's perspective there's no reason to believe he can't at least become a big bodied early down compliment to a guy like Malcolm c as he breaks out but obviously the hope is that what they drafted him to do to be the number two Edge rusher opposite of Max Crosby I mean we're not that far removed from talking about how much of a high upside comination this could be and it's it's tough to predict it with Tyrie Wilson after last year he was a 109th out of 122 players in pass rush win rate um he really only won with power at Texas Tech and just wasn't able to dominate guys with his strength and athleticism as he was in the Big 12 so it's it's really hard to predict that leap but my goodness if he could get back on track this could be um you know a top three defensive line in the NFL but I think as a starting point it's much more realistic to say all right get out there for some dirty work play The Tackle well in run defense and then you know it sounds like they're going to play around with moving them inside as a you know pass rushing three tech and and do some of that stuff with him that's that's fine to me Tyree Wilson is at his best when he can Rush wide and use that length and buildup speed to just bulldo dudes over I mean it's a completely different skill set when you're rushing within a phone booth I don't know if he has the um short area twitch to generate that type of Pop um um you know in those short areas in between the tackles so we we'll see how that goes as well but it gets a lot less interesting after that conversation um next up we got to bring up both John Jenkins and Adam Butler two veterans that have seemingly been in the NFL Forever at this point I throw John Jenkins up there as a starter on the main graphic but Adam Butler um plays almost as many snaps as John Jenkins um Jenkins is the much better run Defender between the two Butler is a more useful pass rusher between the two also fun fact Adam Butler is known as one of the best coverage dropping defensive tackles in the NFL and they continue to use him like that from time to time 15 coverage snaps for Adam Butler last year that was fourth in the NFL last year um but yeah I mean he's an ad um um sorry John Jenkins is an adequate run Defender but at 35 years old how much longer are you counting on him still played okay last year it's not like you need a lot of athleticism to be a run defending defensive tackle it's more about old man's strength and effort and stamina for him at this point so no reason to believe he can't do the same thing he did last year other than at some point the wheels fall off on these guys and then Adam Butler again had a a close to a career year last year as a pass rusher he did have 28 pressures six sacks nothing truly special there but if you know you need somebody else next to Christian Wilkins that um can at least you know get you some wins manufacture some pressure do some stuff off of stunts um Butler is an adequate piece for that and until Tyree Wilson shows that he can be that guy that plays and rushes from the interior on passing Downs you're going to need Adam Butler there so definitely some necessary veteran pieces there that they're hoping they can get exactly what they got out of them last year and then it's all developmental stuff um Byron young would be the next guy I'm interested in especially with what we talked about with Malcolm coun needing U maybe a complimentary piece to play a little bit of five tech on earlier Downs Byron young did that at at Alabama he's about 290 lbs definitely an interior defensive lineman but a decent athlete a third round pick last year would not be surprised if he takes a leap as a kind of useful early down um quasi Edge piece for this team again depending on what Tyrie Wilson gives this team but he's kind of a a capable tweener backup that I don't expect to really emerge as any sort of starter here they have a couple guys that have been drafted as well in recent years Matthew Butler Nesta Jade Silvera can they get a jump from those guys they aren't necessarily counting on it but it would be really nice and then off the edge it is very thin they really need Tyree Wilson to take that jump they have jius Robinson a fourth round round pick for the Vikings in 2021 who played 78 snaps for them last year Charles Snowden a a lanky undrafted free agent that hasn't really earned any playing time in the league ellerson Smith a mid- round draft pick for the Giants that's stunk since he came into the league out of Northern Iowa I almost wonder if this team shouldn't be in the market for just anybody off the edge I don't have a name to throw at you but it doesn't have to be a starting caliber guy but just someone that can eat up 250 snaps in a versatile role for them but overall uh very optimistic conversation for this Raiders defensive line again ranking uh tied for seventh in the NFL for overall defensive line and they are definitely going to set the tone for the rest of this defense that's going to be counting on them because it gets a little bit worse uh and then even more worse as we get to the second and third levels of the defense um let's go to that linebacking group the second level of the defense it's a very solid if not spectacular Duo of linebackers with Robert Spain and divine Diablo they essentially rank smack dab in the middle of the league for linebacker rankings for me C+ grade in coverage B minus grade in run defense and the linebacking overall grade came out um tied for 16th through 20th so you start with Robert Spain who definitely had a career year last year after coming over from Pittsburgh um look I I really like Robert Spain I think he's a really solid B balanced linebacker even though he's not some Sensational athlete I think he's got plenty enough athleticism to I mean last year he had a borderline Pro Bowl season not sure if I'm expecting three interceptions from him every year that that was a big um selling point in him being in that cons uh contention but definitely an above average starter in the league especially in terms of run defense where he's got everything you look for he's got enough size he's not some giant Smasher but he has enough size to get dirty in between the tackles but a quick trigger without losing Gap discipline all the time a consistent tackler so very good in in terms of run defense and then coverage I mentioned the three interceptions he does have a knack when he's in those short zones to kind of bait the quarterback he understands that aspect of things and kind of the timing of quick game and when those underneath throws are coming um but just in terms of the overall athleticism the amount of space he's able to to um cover the depth he's able to get can he really man guys up you know not really and for example he allowed the 13th most yards in coverage last year so while the splash plays and coverage are fun and the interceptions are are nice it's not all perfect from him but a very nice player nonetheless and um God he's looking like a bargain they gave him a 2year $8 million contract last off season and um that's a that's a total steal for how he produced for them last year and then Divine Diablo you know played Safety at Virginia Tech he's uh settled in as a very solid linebacker I actually was more impressed with his run defense tape than his coverage tape last year which is not what you would expect for a converted safety he plays about 63 225 lbs he has good sideline to sideline speed but at this point I do feel like he's missing a little something in terms of coverage feel and getting in the way of passing Lanes kind of lets the quarterback manipulate him and doesn't always play play action as well as you'd like his athleticism does show up um as a guy that they can ask to man up tight ends and do a little bit more in terms of coverage than Robert Spain but the production certainly isn't where um Spain's is but then in terms of run defense uh he's a little bit on the lighter side in terms of getting off blocks and smashing between the tackles but very good speed to the ball very consistent tackler with those long strong arms that he has ultimately a very nice compliment to the more nuanced run defender in Robert Spain and rounding out a very solid linebacking Duo that helps out this defense and they have some depth especially in the run defense department Luke Masterson has had to play occasionally and actually splashes when he's out there it's just been a a very um severe lack of playing time for him but has shown he can he can fly around um Fly To The Ball help out on special teams all that stuff very unproven as a coverage player though and then they do draft Tommy ikenberg in the fifth round very good run defending College linebacker Prospect one of the more high IQ linebackers you'll see coming out not a bad guy to get under Robert Spain's wings uh we mentioned Spain one year left on that contract he will be 30 years old next season so um I'm not saying Spain can't earn a contract extension after this season but more long long term Tommy ikenberg is a similar size and just kind of athletic uh thresholds to a guy like Spain so a really good guy to kind of maybe make the long-term replacement there and definitely a good backup to that guy so I like that pick and then Amari Bernie a little bit more of a Divine Diablo backup with um just a straight line speed Speedster loves to run loves to hit and that's about it and then just a competition of like undrafted types after that so a damn solid linebacking group but then you get to the secondary and this is where you are going to have questions about this defense that we've been pretty optimistic about to this point they have some guys they like here but in terms of um provess it's it's lacking right especially with your top two corners in Jack Jones and jakorian Bennett or at least your outside corners cuz Nate Hobs is their best cornerback but he's in the slot you start with Jack Jones I I would imagine a Raiders fan favorite at this point they got him for free he is someone that is very tightly connected to Antonio Pierce who coached him at Arizona State Jack Jones is fascinating where he is kind of been all over the map he comes out as this day three kind of undersized not the most athletic Corner that the Patriots draft he looks awesome as a rookie then very quickly falls off with off field concerns I want to say he took a gun to the airport or something like that and then gets basically kicked off the team by the Patriots after um you know the second half of his rookie season definitely fell off so they didn't see him as a piece of the future but Antonio Pierce and the Raiders we like you know what we we believe in his football character and and who he can be for this Raiders team they pick him up and really overnight he was intercepting passes for the Raiders starting for this team and and was good enough that they just released Marcus Peters and to be honest there's a little Marcus Peters in Jack Jones game where he's not the stickiest coverage player he's not the fastest guy but incredible instincts and ball skills to make stuff happen in the secondary and what you love about Jack Jones is some of his interceptions make it so clear that this dude watches tape and understands offensive Tendencies cuz he'll jump screens jump out routes typically from like off coverage where he's just playing in space reading the quarterback reading the offense and has these kind of game changing interceptions so while he's again not the guy you want to put press to man and shut down a number one wide receiver he can make plays for your defense especially when you've got a pass rush up front wreck and Havoc like the Raiders can have speeding up the processing time of the quarterback you get a playmaker on the back end like Jack Jones and he can be a dude for you so he's just he's just a really polarizing guy that's difficult to rank he's heading into year three at 27 years old on his second team and his starts have been a little bit all over the map he's had those games where he has very good coverage and takes over with these monster interceptions and he's had games where teams pick on him kind of have whatever they want with him where he's just not always in the best position in terms of one-on-one coverage so you like to believe in the guy I think longterm as a sort of you know Marcus Peters eventually settled in as like the perfect number two Corner if you could have more of a shutdown guy to deal with the best route runner on the other team and funnel funnel you know uh lower percentage throws towards a playmaker like Jack Jones that would be great um but as their number one outside corner you can definitely have some question marks about that um and then you can definitely have some question marks about jacorian Bennett having to start opposite of him I did think jakorian Bennett was overdrafted and when he played last year he certainly wasn't ready he ran a really good 40 time but I felt like he was really lacking anticipation and technique in coverage watched a lot of them because he was Deontay Banks's running M mate at Maryland and the the difference between Deontay bank's ability to recognize routes to squeeze space to stick one-on-one was exponentially better than like jakorian Bennett and we saw that for the Raiders they they like to run off coverage and he just he just kind of lets that space exists and relies on his speed for Recovery um and to protect him over the top but there's just not much there from him in terms of good tape frankly going back to his time at Maryland and definitely last year in 12 games where he started week one for this team and eventually got benched so right now he's the projected starter I don't think that's anything close to a guarantee because of the you know draft investment and the speed uh it might be like last year where they're going to stick him out there and see how year two goes but I think it's far from a given that he holds on to that job I would argue they have at least two other Corners in the room that are better players than him they do have Brandon faon who continues to get time in the league Raiders fans are familiar with him he started a lot of games in 2021 and was not any good was a little bit better for the Colts a year after that but um yeah he's got experience he's got length it's about the best thing I can say about him but he is an option if Bennett truly is a a a train wreck the guy I'm definitely interested in though is deam Marian Richardson who I would wager is actually better than jakorian Bennett right now and with the opportunity ahead of him wouldn't be stunned if he beats out jacorian Bennett you heard it here first but this guy's tape was much better than someone like Bennett coming out of the SEC for deam Maran Richardson he's got better length he's got better feet he's got better anticipation and he's just as fast oh and by the way jacorian Bennett can't tackle to save his life deam Mar and Richardson at least plays with the effort you like to see against the run so that's my dude if he wins this job I'd be a little bit more excited to see where it goes but still someone that was very raw was a fourth round pick for a reason while he anticipates routes he can be over aggressive when doing so and blow his kind of coverage assignment so you got to find that right balance with him but I did really like that draft pick and um from a physical standpoint kind of coming out of Mississippi State he's very very similar to Darius SLE just strictly speaking in terms of height length speed and the hip fluidity the change of Direction the foot speed it's all what you look for in a in a true number one corner but just got to work on his consistency and technique so he he's the guy I'm keeping an eye out for we'll see and then you're getting into you know Sam web and seventh round pick MJ devenshire territory um the those would be kind of emergency backup type of situations Devonshire was a tough dude coming out of Pittsburgh but uh long ways away I think from starting in the NFL and I do think they're just going to keep Nate Hobbs for the most part in the slot it's not that he can't play outside he's almost certainly their best outside corner but I think for a defense that they want to play a lot of off coverage they kind of protect these outside corners through the scheme Nate Hobs be in more of an advantageous situation to have good coverage snaps to get on ball production to make an impact against the Run by playing in that slot where he's in guys face a little bit more as opposed to these You Know cover four cover three or cover two where they're just playing the flat you know they they really do protect these outside corners so the scheme does some heavy lifting here um and by putting Nate Hobs in the slot it's a tougher ask that um certainly the rest of these guys couldn't do as well as Nate Hobs does and would arguably hurt their defense more if they were to flip that so I like Nate Hobs he's frankly saving this from being a D+ uh grade for the coverage group whereas it's a c minus right now ranking 29th to 31st by the way I didn't say that for the audio only people but uh it's almost fitting that we list the grades then and there because this safety Duo is rather inconsequential for this Raiders defense I mean Marcus EPs and Trayvon merri at different stages in their career here but are in my eyes effectively the same player merri a little bit more athletic marus zeps a little bit smarter but the difference isn't significant they are both solid but unsubstantial run Defenders both guys will Splash a nice play on the ball every week or three both guys will find themselves out of position and lose coverage assignments as well they're both okay safety guy uh starters not going to compromise this defense but not going to elevate it either uh the safety depth does have some fascinating names I really like Chris Smith looked good in the one game that the Raiders let him get out there for you're probably not going to start him over maror EPS but if one of those guys went down I wouldn't be stunned if Chris Smith who's a really heady player with Good Feet and good just overall football IQ and awareness wouldn't be surprised if he made some plays and overtook one of those starting jobs Long Term really good tape at Georgia so I'm going to hold out hope on one of my draft crushes there Isaiah poau has played for this defense on the back end 6' three dude out of USC hasn't played a ton but hasn't been a huge issue when he's been out there so you got a couple good backups that can come in on the back end maybe even um give you some flexibility to you know use one of those guys in a dime package as a dime safety would love Chris Smith in that role and then you got Trey Taylor seventh round pick out of air force uh total playmaker loves to hit good size good speed someone to keep an eye on kind of emerged late in the draft process and then everybody that got to him was like yeah he he's pretty fun and who doesn't like to root for uh an Air Force member so that does round out your secondary again A C minus grade ranking 29th to 31st in terms of DB coverage clearly a group that's going to drag down this overall defense that we'll see in a second and then a just a solid b-grade in terms of DB run support between Nate Hobs Marcus EPs and merri it's just kind of an average middle of the road run defense in that giant cluster ranking seventh to 23rd in terms of run support from the Dbacks so for a team that's great up front but very questionable in the secondary it shouldn't be a huge surprise that they rank significantly better in run defense than they do in pass defense they rank third for me in uh overall run defense which would be a huge jump up from last year where they were I think about 17th in run defense but yet just added one of the best run defense defensive tackles in the league so you should see a pretty big spike in your run defense there but then yeah 21st in pass defense basically all pass rush it can only get you so far they are mostly counting on scheme and Jack J interceptions to make up on the back end but with ranking third in run defense you're hoping to force a lot of third and eight plus uh pluses and that's when you can play some of that off coverage you can lean on Patrick Graham to cause confusion with the scheming and use stunts and twists up front to get after the quarterback to Blitz um and of course let Max Crosby tea off on you which is never good for an offense so that's kind of the game plan is to get to Third and eight and get off the field I know that sounds obvious but how many of these teams don't have the types of run defenses that we've talked about for the Raiders right so um they come over they come out exactly as the middle ranked defense the 16th best defense in the league but the highest graded one we've done so far with a b-grade kind of makes sense great dline poor secondary meet in the middle there with a b-grade but at the end of the day I do think this is um a defense that will have enough games throughout the season where they are able to play with that game script we've talked about with that 25th ranked offense being more of a ball control eat the clock stay ahead of the chains lean into your Playmakers let Gardner menu convert some tough third Downs when you need it but if you have to punt and count on your defense they're comfortable doing that five times a game especially as we transition to the Special Teams where they just happen to have the best punter in the league AJ Cole last two years comes out as the number one ranked punter in the league they also have a kicker they can count on um they actually for the overall special teams grade only came out uh tied for 13th once you factored in their PFF team grade and their dvo team uh dvoa Team grade from last year clearly their coverage units and return game wasn't up to Snuff relative to their kicker and punter but you do certainly expect a level of consistency when your actual Specialists are this good in Daniel Carlson and AJ Cole and it's there's no doubt that that's a compliment to a team that wants to win with this type of game script so I do like the Special Teams even if some of the metrics there um pulled them down to more of a League average special teams I would maybe bet that they overachieve that but let's wrap up by recapping this team's strengths and weaknesses then we'll take a look at their schedule they're over under kind of how many wins I think this team will get and then we will be on our way but this team might not have the longest list of strengths but I don't think they have a very long list of weaknesses either um so for the strengths I do think the offensive line is a strength relative to the rest of the league it's not the best o line in the league but it is top third as we broke down um my favorite thing about this team is probably the weapons and the Just Pure Clean distribution of skill sets that they have where everybody has a specific role that should function within this offense um and then the dline kind of contributing to the pass rush and the run defense I love how this team is going to be able to dictate things at the line of scrimmage kind of force teams to play on their own terms a little bit with the offensive line there but especially with that defensive line but as you look at the weaknesses you know the overall passing game specifically when it comes to like the dropback game is going to be in question you have a lesser quarterback whether that's mchu or Aiden oconnell and a play designer in Luke getsy who has basically everything to prove here this year so that's going to be a big thing to monitor um and then the secondary as we broke down it's a it's a limiting group in terms of really what you can do on the back end and I think it does require the Raiders play kind of like they did last year in a very specific way with the off coverage and um not a lot of man-to-man assignments for those guys so for that reason you can end up a little bit matchup dependent um depending if certain teams can take advantage of their play style back there but let's look at their schedule it surprised me how hard this schedule is when we just did the Chargers in our last episode and their schedule was so easy so I don't know how the Raiders Drew such a a tough beat here I mean their first 10 games are are really tough their first two games are on the road you have to open at the Chargers that's obviously a big game you know while I rank the Raiders above the Chargers I think that home crowd's going to be rocking with Harbaugh you know taking over all that there's some hype for that team so they're going to be underdogs in that game then at Baltimore that's really tough you do get to host the Raiders you get the Broncos week five but man you got you got Cleveland you got Pittsburgh the Rams the Chiefs the Bengals the dolphins all within their first 10 games there it is going to be a tough run for this team we mentioned this is the type of team that can drag good teams into the mud and dictate their terms and pull off some upsets so you're definitely hoping they can do that with with some of these um teams that they'll be big underdogs against and then it does open up in the second half of the Year where you get to host Denver you host the Chargers week 18 you get a run of NFC South teams and you host the Jags those are much more winnable games for this team so you know maybe uh maybe a second half run for this Raiders team could be something you predict they certainly have made a few of those over the years um but it is a tough schedule and I think that plays into their over under being so low at 6 and a half in terms of how I added it all up that looks spoton so if you're Pro Raiders go ahead and take that bet if you're against the Raiders and want to bet uh the under there I I would say go for that as well I'm certainly staying away from this one I'm more looking forward to watching this Raiders team than I am looking forward to betting on them CU they have more of a unique team and a unique play style but uh yeah it's it's a fun team I'm I'm happy to you know Raiders fans will always want more respect but I'm I'm happy to finally be I think Pro Raiders I I don't know too many other people that would rank them any higher than 24th so looking forward to seeing Garder mshu and this group of weapons and this pass rush this D line going to work Antonio Pierce is a really fun story so um definitely some optimism for this team maybe down the road they can um get a quarterback and and really start to have some serious conversations about upside um but in terms of floor it's a it's a good football team and I hope you guys enjoyed hearing me break them down uh thank you so much for watching if you've enjoyed this series or enjoyed this video please do hit that like button let me know in the comments down below where I went right where I went wrong am I too high on this Raiders team who do you think comes next in this series let me know all of it down below but until the next Deep dive thank you for watching and we'll see you soon peace out a [Music]