2022 32 Teams/32 Days: Las Vegas Raiders

32 in 32 Hub

Team: Las Vegas Raiders

Division: Thunderdome, aka the AFC West

Record: 10-7

Standing: 2nd in AFC West

Playoffs: 5th seed in AFC

Playoff Result: L 26-19 to Cincinnati Bengals

Outline:

• Prior to the 2021 Season
  • Front Office Changes
  • Free Agent Losses
  • Free Agent Additions
  • Draft Selections
• Season Review
  • Season Stats
• The Offseason
  • New Additions
    • Front Office
    • Players
  • Free Agents Retained
  • Key Departures
  • 2022 Draft Picks
• 2022 Season Outlook
  • Offense
  • Defense
  • Special Teams
  • Summary

In The Comments:

• Weekly Game Highlights
• Free Agents TBD
• Remaining Needs
• Review of 2021 Draft Picks
• Position Group Summaries
  • Offense
  • Defense

Prior to the 2021 Season

2021 Front Office Changes

The 2021 offseason saw a change in defensive staff for the Raiders, as Paul Guenther was replaced as Defensive Coordinator. Gus Bradly came in to take his spot and hopefully improve on what was, frankly, a rather abysmal defense in 2020.

2021 Free Agent Losses

Player	Position	New Team
Nelson Agholar	WR	NE
Devontae Booker	RB	NYG
Takkarist McKinley	DE	CLE
Tyrell Williams	WR	DET
LaMarcus Joyner	FS	NYJ
Erik Harris	S	ATL
Raekwon McMillan	ILB	NE
Jeff Heath	SS	NO
Maurice Hurst	DT	SF
Arden Key	DE	SF
Rasul Douglas	CB	HOU
Daryl Worley	CB	ARI
Jeremiah Valoaga	DE	NYJ
Nevin Lawson	CB	JAC

2021 Free Agent Additions

Player	Postion	From	Years	$$ (millions)
Yannick Ngakoue	DE	BAL	2	$26
Kenyan Drake	RB	ARI	2	$11
John Brown	WR	BUF	1	$3.75
K.J. Wright	OLB	SEA	1	$3.495
Solomon Thomas	DE	SF	1	$3.25
Quinton Jefferson	DT	BUF	1	$3.25
Casey Hayward	CB	LAC	1	$2.5

2021 Draft Selections

Round	Pick	Player	Position
1	17	Alex Leatherwood	G/T
2	43	Tre'von Moehrig	S
3	79	Malcolm Koonce	DE
3	80	Divine Deablo	LB
4	143	Tyree Gillespie	S
5	167	Nate Hobbs	CB
7	230	Jimmy Morrissey	C

2021 Draft Selection Comments

Season Review

The season started hot for the Raiders, with a thrilling overtime victory against Baltimore on Monday Night Football. The Raiders would win two more, against Pittsburgh and again in overtime against Miami. Two overtime wins in the first three weeks, especially with the absolute insanity of the Baltimore game, apparently needed some cosmic balancing. The gods were happy to help level out the scales.

Shortly after dropping the week 4 game to the Chargers, it came out that Gruden had sent racist emails. Two days later, the Raiders lost their second in a row, this time to Chicago, and Gruden resigned the following day. A promising start to the season was screeched to a halt with two consecutive losses and an interim head coach in Rich Bisaccia.

The Raiders, however, rallied around the beloved, genuinely wonderful personality of Rich Bisaccia, picking off consecutive wins against Denver and Philly. The bye came at an excellent time for a troubled team. Sitting at 5-2, riding the two game win streak, the bye was the perfect opportunity to continue building morale, letting the team gel, and just having the time to process the sudden and shocking departure of Gruden. The gods, however, were determined to have their balance restored one last time.

And so it was, in the middle of the bye week, second year wide receiver Henry Ruggs III made the decision to drive drunk, and a young lady and her dog lost their lives as a result. Much can be written about the impact on and off the field, but it won’t compare to the impact made to her friends and family, so I won’t be writing any of it. Six days later, second-round pick and second-year corner, Damon Arnette, would flash a gun on IG live and make apparent threats. He would also be released.

The Raiders would go 1-5 over the next six games, their only win being another overtime victory, this time against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Digging deep and rallying around their cherished interim head coach, the Raiders finished strong, winning their final four games, including their fourth overtime win, this time against the Chargers. Securing a playoff spot with the 5th seed in the AFC, the Raiders had - somehow - overcome a wild, bizarre season and realized their goal of a playoff spot, albeit with an interim head coach and without their receiver that opened up the field.

The Raiders went on to lose the wildcard game against Cincinnati, 26-19. Fitting for the season, and honestly much of their history, a truly bizarre play and ruling was the deciding factor.

Actual Football Summary

The offense looked brilliant at times, and anemic at others. Team offense was 18th overall in the NFL, while the passing game was 6th. This looks impressive until you realize they were only effective outside of the red zone. The rushing game finished 28th in the league, largely due to a patchwork offensive line that saw rookie Alex Leatherwood shift from RT to RG, LG Richie Incognito spending the entire year on injured reserve, and center Andre James struggled hard early on.

Defensively, the Raiders finished 26th overall. Defensive passing was ranked 13th, while rushing was 19th overall. The Gus Bradley experiment was largely worthwhile, according to most fans, but any improvement was offset by having the worst red zone defense. There’s no hyperbole there - the red zone defense was atrocious.

While it was nice to see the Raiders back in the playoffs, there were many, many holes on both sides of the ball, and it was really the special teams that led the way.

Season Statistics

Offense

Stat	Value	Rank
Total Offense	N/A	18
Passing Offense	N/A	6
Passing Yards	4,567	6
Passing Yards/play	5.7	11
Passing 1st Downs	217	8
Any\A	6.6	13
Rushing Offense	N/A	28
Rushing Yards\play	3.9	28
Rushing Yards\game	95.1	28

Defense

Stat	Value	Rank
Total Defense	N/A	26
Passing Defense	N/A	13
Passing Yards Allowed	3,789	20
Passing Yards\play	6.6	28
Any\A	6.4	12
Rushing Defense	N/A	19
Rushing Yards\play	4.2	21
Rushing Yards\game	114.3	14

Enter The Off Season

What do you do with a team that - somehow, miraculously - makes the playoffs while rallying around an interim head coach? Apparently, the answer is change everything you possibly can.

Despite players actively, publicly advocating for Rich Bisaccia to remain as head coach, the Raiders brought in Josh McDaniels from New England. Frustrated with a plethora of day one draft picks not working out, Mark Davis let Mike Mayock seek other opportunities and brought in Dave Ziegler as General Manager. Gus Bradley was thanked for his leadership and player-friendly approach, and promptly replaced with Patrick Graham.

After locking up stud and defensive fan favorite Maxx Crosby, Raider Nation was hyped for free agency. Day one of free agency came and went without a whisper of anything for the Raiders. The new front office was apparently just tight-lipped, quickly splashing in on day two with Chandler Jones, trading Yannick Ngakoue for Rock Ya-Sin, and bringing in DT Bilal Nichols from the Bears to shore up a defensive interior and apply pressure up the middle.

And then the new front office made their commitment to Derek Carr known. Not with an expensive extension (that’s still coming), but in trading their first and second round picks to secure his college buddy and “brother”, Davante Adams.

New Additions Front Office

Name	Role	Previous Team	Previous Role
Dave Ziegler	General Manager	New England	Director of Player Personnel
Josh McDaniels	Head Coach	New England	Offensive Coordinator
Patrick Graham	Defensive Coordinator	New York	Defensive Coordinator
Mick Lombardi	Offensive Coordinator	New England	Wide Receivers Coach
Tom McMahon	Special Teams Coordinator	Denver	Special Teams Coordinator

New Additions - Players

Player	Position	Previous Team	Expected Role
Chandler Jones	DE	ARI	Wilson’s worst nightmare
Davante Adams	WR	GB	Carr’s BFF
Rock Ya-Sin	CB	IND	Starting CB
Anthony Averett	CB	BAL	Depth, possibly compete for starting job
Bilal Nichols	DT	CHI	Starting DT
Brandon Bolden	RB	NE	3rd down, depth RB
Mack Hollins	WR	MIA	ST / Depth WR
Ameer Abdullah	RB	CAR	Depth pass-catching RB
Darius Phillips	CB	CIN	Return specialist, Depth CB
Alex Bars	OG	CHI	Depth OL at G and T, may compete for RG if Leatherwood moves to RT
Jakob Johnson	FB	NE	Starting FB, mostly blocking, though some targets in the pass game
Demarcus Robinson	WR	KC	WR 3/4
Vernon Butler	DT	BUF	Depth DT, may compete for starting job
Micah Kiser	ILB	DEN	ST, Depth LB
Jayon Brown	ILB	TEN	Likely depth LB

Free Agents Retained

Player	Position	Impact
Brandon Parker	T	Raiders fans hate him, but he’s serviceable as a backup
Jermaine Eluemunor	G	Quality depth, maybe

Key Departures

Player | Position | New Team | Impact Alec Ingold | FB | Dolphins | Quality character and status as a captain will be missed. Shouldn’t be a major loss in the new system. Zay Jones | WR | Jacksonville | Great guy, average WR. Indifferent. Nicholas Morrow | LB | Chicago | One of the best LBs on the roster, but missed last year with injuries. Potentially a notable loss. Marcus Mariota | QB | ATL | Always hurts to lose QB2 Casey Hayward | CB | ATL | A real stud Quinton Jefferson | DT | SEA | Indifferent Marquel Lee | ILB | BUF | Indifferent Keisean Nixon | CB | GB | Depth CB, indifferent Solomon Thomas | DT | NYJ | Quality character, solid depth

2022 Draft Picks

Round	Pick	Overall	Status
1	22	22	To GB
2	21	53	To GB
3	22	86
4	21	126
5	21	164	From NE
6	20	199	To CAR
7	6	227	From CAR
7	22	243	To NE then KC

2022 Season Outlook

Outlook Summary - Offense

While Raider Nation has consistently fought itself over where Derek Carr ranks, and while the press has had their annual “Derek Carr will be traded” for years now, the front office showed their commitment to DC4 by picking up Davante Adams. This offense has the potential to be explosive - overseen by Josh McDaniels, a system similar to what Carr ran in 2016 with Bill Musgrave, and weapons aplenty in Adams, Waller, Renfrow, and Josh Jacobs. Expect the offense to be effective and efficient, with significant gains in the red zone (literally the only direction to go) - if, of course, the OL can keep Carr clean.

Outlook Summary - Defense

Patrick Graham brings a much-needed breath of fresh air to a defensive unit that has struggled for longer than I want to admit, which is why I’m not looking up the last year the Raiders had a decent (or even average) defense. Ngakoue leaving was unexpected, but Chandler Jones is a definite improvement to play opposite Maxx Crosby. Add in interior pressure from Bilal Nichols, and the defensive line can give opposing quarterbacks nightmares. The secondary picked up a solid improvement in Rock Ya-Sin, and Anthony Averett is certainly a competent and capable backup if he can’t compete with a starting job. Expect the defense to be improved, even if there are struggles initially with a new system.

Outlook Summary - Special Teams

Two of the best kickers and now a ST specialist in Mack Hollins? Unstoppable. Daniel Carlson had a fantastic 2021. He was ST player of the week on multiple occasions, hit multiple game winners, and was an integral part of the Raiders' success in 2021. AJ Cole was a fantastic punter for the Raiders in 2021, earning a Pro Bowl nod and racking up a 50 yard average. Thankfully he can force a fumble, because this man has no intentions of punting next year. ST defense/coverage should also be improved, notably due to Mack Hollins and Micah Kiser.

Summary of 2022 Outlook

I would be doing an injustice to only forecast the team’s improvements without mentioning the arms race that is the AFC West. It’s easy enough to talk about playing Jacksonville, the now Watson-less Texans, a somewhat depleted Colts roster, or the Steelers with Trubisky at the helm. We can talk about matchups with the 49ers and Rams, or the Saints, Seahawks, and Titans. But at the end of the day, the AFC West is an arms race. I won’t pretend to predict standings, but I will go ahead and let you know that the vast majority of AFC West matchups in 2022 should be considered as much watch games. The Raiders have improved on a roster to be more competitive and push deeper into the playoffs. However, the road there faces 6 grueling games against 3 very competitive teams and rosters.

With just under $7M in cap space, the Raiders need to extend Carr for a little cap relief, and expect to get about $20M more post June 1. There’s still an opportunity for the Raiders to improve the roster, though it may be mainly through depth rather than proven starters. The cap situation in general is cause for a positive outlook, both for 2022 and future years. Cap flexibility is definitely needed to remain competitive in this division.