We are barely two weeks into the month of November, but the 2-7 Raiders are beat up and will close out the season in quarterback purgatory. That means it’s not too early to look ahead to the offseason.
The hot topic around the Raiders for the next six months is going to be the draft, but the organization has big decisions coming on key free agents long before the draft rolls around in April.
In an effort to be unburdened by what has been, let’s look ahead at the Raiders’ roster and the players who could potentially be leaving after the 2024 season.
Beginning with the offense…
Alexander Mattison
Mattison has been the team’s most effective running back this year, but that isn’t saying a lot. He has 301 rushing yards on the season and is averaging 3.3 yards per carry.
His numbers aren’t great, but the Raiders have been a disaster along the offensive line and it’s hard to imagine any running back would have found success in Luke Getsy’s offense over the first 10 weeks of the season.
It feels like he has been in the league longer, but Mattison is only 26 years-old and still has good football left in the tank.
Ameer Abdullah
Abdullah is in his 10th NFL season, and he won’t be a priority for anyone in the offseason.
That being said, Abdullah is averaging 5.1 yards per carry on 16 carries this year. He isn’t washed up yet.
D.J. Turner (RFA)
Turner can be a playmaker, and he has enjoyed a few good moments this year. As an unrestricted free agent, the Raiders won’t have any trouble keeping Turner if that’s the direction they want to go.
He’s a high character player with some upside for anyone needing depth at wide receiver next year.
Harrison Bryant
With the temporary loss of Michael Mayer, Bryant had an impact in the first half of the season.
Bryant will be a third tight end at best when Mayer and Brock Bowers are healthy and may have better options elsewhere after the season.
Cody Whitehair
The season hasn’t been kind to Cody Whitehair. He’ll be 33 when the 2025 season begins and, presumably, won’t be with the Raiders.
Jordan Meredith (ERFA)
Believe it or not, Meredith has the second-highest Pro Football Focus offensive grade on the team this year. He turns 27 in January and should be a player the Raiders make an effort to bring back.
In fact, based on the way the offensive line has played this year, he probably ought to be a priority.
And now for the defense…
Adam Butler
Butler will be 31 next year, be he’s still playing at a high level. He’s a positive locker room influence that the Raiders won’t be excited about losing if he goes somewhere else next year.
“That’s a kid I believe in d— near more than anybody,” Crosby said of Butler on The Rush three weeks ago. “One of the best teammates I’ve been around. Just his work ethic. A dude that’s in, I think, year 8 now, flying around the way he does. [He] doesn’t get all the stats, but he’s always setting up things for other guys.”
“You seen it again [against the Browns] where Christian [Wilkins] and J-Rob got the half sack. He was the one that took the center and guard, and it was a runaway to the quarterback,” Crosby continued. “Then at the end he had the run stop, the tackle on the screen, ran Deshaun [Watson] out of bounds, back-to-back to back, all in crucial moments, end of the game. [He’s] a master of big moments. I guy like that is an unsung hero.”
Malcolm Koonce
Prior to a knee injury in the first week of September, there wasn’t anyone on the defense, other than Maxx Crosby, with higher expectations going into the season than Koonce.
In an appearance before the season on the The Rush with Maxx Crosby, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was asked to name a player that he thought would make a huge stride this year.
He immediately mentioned Koonce.
“I don’t want to put anybody on the spot, but I just love what Malcolm [Koonce] has been able to do,” Graham said.
“In terms of what he was able to do last year and the way he’s working right now. I think he could care less what happened last year. He’s just like Maxx, you have to do every week, every year, it’s a new season,” Graham continued. “The way he’s been working, the maturity in terms of him growing into himself as an NFL player and knowing who he is and being able to communicate that and execute it. It should be fun to watch. I’m not going to predict this and that. I just know this. Show me you’re doing the work. We’ll see what the results are. Let’s rock. He’s putting in that work.”
Charles Snowden (ERFA)
Snowden made a name for himself in week 4 against the Browns, he hasn’t been much of a playmaker since.
He’s young enough, though, to consider keeping around.
Robert Spillane
Spillane is going to be one of the most interesting free agents to watch in the offseason. Along with Maxx Crosby, he’s the heart of Patrick Graham’s defense.
If Graham and head coach Antonio Pierce are back next year, there is very little chance Spillane will get away in free agency.
If the Raiders have new decision-makers in the building, it’s possible that Spillane, who turns 29 in December, will take a better offer somewhere else.
Divine Deablo
Other than an injury that took him out of the lineup for a while, Deablo has been impressive in his contract year.
The Raiders should try to bring him back, but a comment this week from Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter was notable on the team’s linebacker situation.
It sounds like the Raiders are giving a little extra attention to the linebackers in the 2025 draft.
“I’ll tell you something interesting and this may surprise you a little bit,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “I’m hearing a lot of attention on a couple of linebackers… I think it’s very interesting, and you can tell a lot about a team and where they’re going by where they put resources. So scouting, I’m hearing a lot of quarterbacks. I’m hearing specifically on a couple of linebackers, offensive linemen, a lot of different areas, but if I was to say the [position] I’m hearing about [the most] at this point is quarterback, linebacker, and offensive linemen.”
Luke Masterson (RFA)
It’s not been a great season for Masterson in a little more than 100 snaps. He has struggled against the pass and excelled against the run, according to Pro Football Focus.
Masterson will latch on somewhere next year, but will it be the Raiders who bring him back as a restricted free agent?
Nate Hobbs
Hobbs is one of the underrated players on the roster and there’s a chance the Raiders are going to get outbid for his services in a few months.
“Nate Hobbs is the sort of guy that you don’t [let go],” Yahoo and FOX Sports host Jason Fitz said on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate earlier this season. “Don’t let Nate Hobbs out of your building because if you can get the things you need this offseason, you know we’ve seen over and over and over again, going from four or five wins to eight or nine wins can happen in an off season.”
Last year, Fitz had even stronger words on Hobbs as he was being floated around as a potential trade candidate prior to the 2023 trade deadline…
“If there was an award to give for you the guy that you know is going to put his body in the way and take you down, it’s Nate Hobbs,” Fitz said.
“I have a man crush on Nate Hobbs in the way he is playing to the football,” he continued. “I don’t care about the coverage portion of this for a second. I care about when the play is in front of Nate Hobbs, it doesn’t matter if there’s three guys in front of him on a wide receiver screen, my guy finds a way to break through that. He is absolutely a cannon ball swarming to the football, and it feels like he is the effort and energy, the Maxx Crosby of the secondary.”
Marcus Epps
Epps has been one of the leaders of the defense, but a knee injury ended his season in September.
He’ll be 29 next year and it will be interesting to see what his value looks like coming away from a significant ACL injury.
The emergence of Isaiah Pola-Mao could also factor into the decision on Epps going into next year.
Another detail of note is that this year’s free agent class at safety is loaded with options.
Tre’von Moehrig
Moehrig has been really good at defending the run this year. Only four safeties in the NFL have a better Pro Football Focus run grade than Moehrig.
122 safeties in the league have a better grade than Moehrig in coverage.
The market will dictate what happens with Moehrig. Will someone overpay to get him?
Isaiah Pola-Mao (RFA)
As a restricted free agent, it should be an easy decision to bring Pola-Mao back. He turned 25 in June and has the fourth-highest Pro Football Focus grade on the defense this season.
Pola-Mao has NFL pedigree, and the future should be bright for the former undrafted free agent out of USC.
With so much uncertainty at the safety going into the offseason, the Raiders will almost certainly want to hold onto Pola-Mao at a reasonable price.
x: @raidersbeat