With news on Tuesday that (former) Raiders’ wide receiver Jakobi Meyers was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the focus of the season in Las Vegas officially becomes more about next year than this year.
The Raiders got a respectable trade return on Meyers in the final year of his contract, but he was the no. 1 wide receiver on the roster and that means the team is looking to the future at the wide receiver position.
With the latest shakeup on offense, let’s take a look at what Meyers’ trade means for the Raiders’ wide receiver room and throw out three predictions (all on offense) around what’s coming for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Jack Bech will have an increased role going forward.
With Meyers headed east, it opens up a spot for one of the rookie wide receivers on the Raiders’ roster to step in.
Will that wide receiver be Jack Bech or Dant’e Thornton?
To this point, Thornton hasn’t shown a lot of promise in his 229 offensive snaps. Bech hasn’t been great, either, but he was a second-round pick and has only been on the field for 134 offensive snaps.
Many believe Bech was drafted to replace Meyers and that will be his role now that Meyers’ time in Las Vegas has come to an end.
Will Bech make an impact on the second half of the season?
Hopefully, because it won’t put the Raiders in a good position if he’s doesn’t.
Sooner than later, the Raiders need to know what they have in their rookie wide receivers and if no one steps up, Tom Brady and GM John Spytek might be forced to do some expensive shopping at the wide receiver position in the offseason.
Geno Smith won’t be benched.
It shouldn’t be a bold statement to suggest a quarterback on a two-year, $85 million contract won’t be benched, but that’s where we’re at on November 4.
Smith played better against the Jaguars on Sunday, but everyone only seems to remember the way he didn’t come through on the last play of the game.
Unless Geno has a complete collapse in the second half of the season, head coach Pete Carroll will double down on his hand-picked quarterback similar to the way Jon Gruden did with Derek Carr. Gruden was committed to Carr and Carroll is going to stay committed to Smith for at least the remainder of the season.
If it comes down to firing the offensive coordinator or the quarterback, Carroll is going to side with his quarterback.
And that brings us to prediction no. 3…
Chip Kelly will be fired at the end of the season.
This might be the prediction that comes with the highest level of confidence.
Kelly hasn’t clicked with his starting quarterback in Las Vegas, and it doesn’t seem like Carroll has been on the same page with Kelly, either.
Let’s see if the Raiders’ offense can build on the offensive effort they demonstrated against the Jaguars, but there are reasons to believe Kelly might be wearing out his welcome in the Raiders’ building.
According to The Athletic’s Mike Silver, the Raiders were bidding against no one when they hired Kelly in February, yet the veteran coach managed to become the NFL’s highest-paid offensive coordinator. There’s a story behind that that needs to be told, too.
“Before Sunday, the Raiders ranked 30th in yards per game and 31st in points, and their effort against the Chiefs — three first downs, 95 total yards — was almost too putrid to be believed,” Silver said on Monday.
“That [Pete] Carroll, one of the most accomplished coaches of his generation, entrusted the Las Vegas offense to Kelly seems to have been a massive whiff. Coaches and talent evaluators, both inside the Raiders’ facility and around the league, have been perplexed by the lack of creativity and production.”
Keep an eye on this one. Kelly is going to be one of the scapegoats for the 2025 season and in more ways than one, he probably deserves it.
x: @raidersbeat