Cover photo taken from PFSN.
Welcome to 32 Teams in 32 Days, a daily series leading up to kickoff of the 2025 NFL season where I preview every team in the league as decided by a wheel spin and project what their season will look like. You can keep up with everything right here.
We round out the AFC West with the remade Raiders, who have seemingly overhauled the franchise and are looking to go from the bottom of the barrel to a position of respect after a rough few years.
And I mean rough. Vegas hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2021, and their offense has been pretty difficult to watch as of late. Last season, they were 31st in EPA/play, 25th in success rate, 28th in dropback EPA, 32nd in rush EPA and 32nd in rush success rate. Since moving on from Derek Carr, juggling between Gardner Minshew, Desmond Ridder, Aidan O’Connell and others hasn’t yielded the most positive results. Shocker, I know.
As such, new general manager John Spytek decided to turn their offense completely upside down. And I loved every move he made.
It started with bringing legendary head coach Pete Carroll out of retirement and trading a third-round pick for QB Geno Smith, then signing him to a two-year, $75 million extension to provide some solid stability under center. I’m a bigger Geno fan than most, but there’s zero denying that he’s a major upgrade for Vegas considering Minshew was 29th in EPA+CPOE and 21st in success rate while Smith was 15th and 16th, respectively. And Carroll will provide some much-needed wisdom and stability at head coach, which the Raiders are desperate for after dealing with the likes of Antonio Pierce and Josh McDaniels.
Then came the draft, where the Raiders knocked it out of the park. The worst rushing offense in the league by a comfortable margin got the biggest boost possible with the selection of generational prospect Ashton Jeanty in the first round. The Heisman runner-up (still think he should’ve won it) who just had 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns at Boise State is arguably the best back to come out of college since Saquon Barkley and will be an instant impact player in a backfield that desperately needed him. Between his size, burst, quickness, toughness and speed, I expect him to have a massive rookie season and immediately be a top-10 RB in the league.
Vegas also needed some pass-catchers on the outside to complement last year’s first-round TE Brock Bowers, who had a ridiculous rookie season with 112 catches, 1,194 and five touchdowns. Enter two fresh new WRs: TCU’s Jack Bech in the second and Tennessee’s Dont’e Thonrton in the fourth. The former a classic inside-outside receiver with sticky hands and reliable toughness, the latter a 6-foot-5 blur to take the top off of defenses. With Geno under center, Jeanty in the backfield and this set of receivers across the board, this offense should be vastly improved in 2025.
I do still worry about the defense, though. Could it be better? Sure. Will it be good? I don’t know. Maxx Crosby is one of the league’s premier edge rushers — more on that later — Adam Butler is a solid presence in the middle of the line, Jeremy Chinn was a nice addition at safety and I think Darien Porter could be a stud at corner. But that’s about it. I just don’t know if this unit improved enough from last year to be any better. That’s not a bad thing — they were 16th in EPA/play and 11th in success rate. Just an observation.
X-Factor: The Offensive Line
The Raiders didn’t take Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick for no reason. They’re not necessarily going to be a run-first team, but they sure as hell will need to run the ball effectively to be the offense they want to be. I think Jeanty can make it work in any circumstance, but this offensive line improving from a year ago would go a long way. They were just 22nd in the league in run block win rate in 2024 and didn’t do a lot to bolster that unit. If they do improve in that department, it’ll go a hell of a long way. And even if they get better at pass blocking — they were 17th in that department last year — it’ll definitely help Geno, who had to deal with Seattle’s inept OL in the past several years. Simply put, if this line does its job, this could really be one of the 10-12 best offenses in the league.
Team MVP: EDGE Maxx Crosby
As I said earlier, Crosby is simply one of the best in the biz. An ankle injury derailed his 2024, but he was still 9th in pass rush win rate among edges and racked up 7.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. In the previous two seasons, he racked up 27 sacks and a league-leading 45 TFLs. He’s simply a machine. And the Raiders paid him as such, rewarding him with a three-year, $106.5 million extension. When healthy, there’s no denying how dominant he is. Let’s hope he stays on the field in 2025.
Breakout Candidate: WR Dont’e Thornton Jr.
If you’ve been paying any attention to the Raiders in the preseason and training camp, you’ve probably heard Thornton’s name. And for good reason. He’s 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, runs a 4.3 40, can take the top off any defense and can Moss any corner you throw his way. His physical attributes have never been a question; he was one of the top WRs in his recruiting class, after all. But the production was just never there to match it in college. But those traits will translate to the NFL, especially with a guy like Geno throwing you the ball. Smith was the second-most accurate quarterbacks on throws of 20-plus yards in 2024, trailing only Joe Burrow. I have a feeling that Thornton will be his favorite downfield target, opening up the ability for massive plays in an offense that really needs them.
Record Prediction: 8-9
The Raiders are doing all the right things right now. But three things remain true. One, this is still the wild, wild AFC West. Two, it’s just year one of this rebuild. Three, the schedule is pretty tough. They’ve got to play the Eagles, Commanders, Texans and Patriots outside of their divisional gauntlet. They’re going to be much improved, but there’s still some work to do, particularly on defense. But I think Geno and Jeanty will be awesome, I think Bowers will have another great year, Thornton and Bech could flash some real potential, and Crosby will once again be a game-wrecker. They’ll be a very fun watch.
Next up: 
Chicago Bears
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