After a rollercoaster season in 2023 for Las Vegas, the Raiders look to come into this season with a little more stability. Fresh off of a new deal, Antonio Pierce will lead the way for the silver and black in 2024.
Whether it was quarterback changes or coaching changes, you name it, the Raiders had a lot of drama last season. After just seven games at quarterback, the Jimmy Garoppolo experiment quickly fizzled out. On top of that, Josh McDaniels was fired just eight weeks into the season after a 3-5 start.
The Raiders moved onto new heights and placed the interim coaching tag on Antonio Pierce for the remainder of the season. In addition, they named rookie quarterback, Aidan O'Connell, the starting quarterback for the remainder of 2023.
O'Connell will now most likely have that title in 2024, but there has been some competition in training camp with Gardner Minshew. After last year's debacle at the quarterback position, Vegas should not be so quick to name their QB1 just yet.
Las Vegas said goodbye to Josh Jacobs this offseason after departing for Green Bay. Jacobs will be replaced by his backup Zamir White and the Raiders also went out and signed Alexander Mattison. Like the quarterback position, the Raiders are unsure of who will be RB1 come September 8th.
For his third season in Las Vegas, Davante Adams will lead the receiver room as the unanimous WR1. This could be Adams' make or break year in Vegas after two very frustrating seasons and lots of rumored trade talks surrounding him.
The Raiders first round draft pick, Brock Bowers, was rated very highly around the NFL. Many didn't think the Georgia tight end would fall all the way to 13, but luckily for the Raiders he did. In college, Bowers asserted himself as the best tight end in college football and will be a nice target for whoever is throwing him the football this season.
Recently rated the 10th best player in all of football, Maxx Crosby will lead this Raiders defense after a 14.5 sack season last year. He will be joined by former Dolphin, Christian Wilkins, who signed a massive contract this offseason to join the Raiders for the next four years. The duo of Wilkins and Crosby is going to keep opposing offensive lines up at night. It is going to get scary in Vegas this year.
Las Vegas did a good job in keeping mostly the rest of the defense intact from a year ago. The defense ranked 15th in the NFL last season and with the addition of Wilkins, this number will certainly rise.
The Raiders look on paper to be poised for a breakout season in 2024. They have learned from the past, the less drama surrounding the team, the better. Hopefully Vegas fans don't have to go through anything similar to what they did just a season ago.
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