With a new NFL campaign just around the corner, hope is a paradox in Las Vegas: fragile enough to shatter, but stubborn enough to persist. After enduring a bruising 2024 campaign in which the Raiders fell to a paltry 4-13 – the third worst record in the AFC – the Sin City outfit enters the new season not as Super Bowl favorites. In fact, they’re one of the NFL betting sites’ rank outsiders.
The latest NFL betting at Bovada odds currently prices Pete Carroll’s men as a whopping +12500 outsider to leave Levi’s Stadium next February with the Lombardi. There are only six teams in the entire league priced longer. But while the Raiders may well be a +265 outside just to reach the playoffs and have a projected win line of just 6.5, they head into 2025 as something far more interesting: a team with ambition.
How high is the mountain ahead? The AFC West is a gauntlet. Last season, all three of the Raiders’ divisional rivals reached the postseason, while the Kansas City Chiefs went on to feature in a third straight Super Bowl, though admittedly they did go on to lose in shocking fashion to the Philadelphia Eagles. Even so, if Vegas is to make an impression in 2025, it will need its star players to perform at their very best from the outset and throughout. Here are the three men tasked with reviving one of the NFL’s most storied teams.
Maxx Crosby
Few defensive players carry the torch of expectation and exert an impact as clear-cut as Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ bellwether on defense. It is almost cinematic: the battered black-and-silver helmet, the eyes smoldering with intent, the first step that ignites the edge like a powder keg.
Even in a 2024 plagued by injuries, Crosby was a hurricane—finishing with 7.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, and 20 QB hits in barely more than half a season. The metrics highlight his pass-rush win rate as among the league’s elite, a metric that becomes more staggering when contextualized by his workload and the double teams he attracts. Now, he heads into the new season fully fit, with a money-spinning new contract under his belt, and the motivation to lead his side into a prosperous new era.
There’s a subtle poetry to Crosby’s leadership—he’s the rare defensive anchor who not only disrupts with technique and velocity, but galvanizes those around him. With Malcolm Koonce back at full tilt and Tyree Wilson maturing into a rotational threat, the Raiders’ front four transforms from liability to strength. In a division packed with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Bo Nix, edge disruption isn’t an extravagance—it’s existential. If Las Vegas is to swing games with defensive stops instead of regretful shrugs, it starts with Crosby’s engine.
Ashton Jeanty
Teams searching for identity rarely find it overnight—but sometimes they draft it. Ashton Jeanty, the Raiders’ 2025 first-round selection, arrives as both an answer and a question. Will he be the catalyzing force of Pete Carroll’s ground-and-pound blueprint—or a rookie sensation swallowed by the NFL’s cut-throat brutality? Numbers from his college career are unambiguous: 2,601 rushing yards, 862 through the air, and a knack for stringing together chunks of yards after contact that made him a nightmare for would-be tacklers.
Jeanty’s fit stretches beyond raw stats. In camp, insiders note his verbal command in the huddle, his quick processing of Chip Kelly’s complex run-pass options, and a contact balance that simply pops on tape. The coaching staff doesn’t hide their expectations: Jeanty isn’t simply the lead back. He’s the engine, the security blanket for Geno Smith, the tempo-setter who can turn second-and-long into consecutive first downs.
Is a 1,200-yard campaign plausible for a rookie? If he stays healthy and the offensive line gels, absolutely. His grip on the offense—and the Raiders’ playoff hopes—could tighten with every week. However, if his preseason debut is anything to go by, there could well still be a lot of work lying in the former Boise State man’s immediate future.
Brock Bowers
Brock Bowers didn’t just break records in 2024; he shattered the archetype of NFL tight ends. With 112 receptions and 1,194 yards as a rookie, the former Georgia Bulldog already forced the rankings committees to slot him among the league’s 25 best. But statistics only hint at his true value. Bowers is the Raiders’ schematic wildcard—the rare weapon who can line up in-line, in the slot, out wide, and force defenders into existential dilemmas.
Teams typically counter generational tight ends by bracketing them with safeties and linebackers, but Bowers’ blend of acceleration and route nuance nullifies such attempts. In Chip Kelly’s hands, he becomes a chess piece: sent in motion, isolated against smaller defenders, or anchoring bunch sets to spring slot receivers. His rhythm with Geno Smith is still developing—but the glimpses so far are blistering. For Las Vegas to hang with the AFC’s track teams, Bowers must extend drives, finish in the red zone, and give Smith both the quick outlet and the big-play spark.