The Raiders are entering an offseason with a lot of tough personnel decisions coming on the defensive side of the ball.
Tre’von Moehrig, Robert Spillane, Malcolm Koonce, Nate Hobbs, Divine Deablo, K’Lavon Chaisson and Adam Butler are all entering free agency in 2025 and Maxx Crosby made headlines on Christmas Eve when he left the door open for a potential trade request after the season.
It’s unlikely that everyone on that list will be retained, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter named Crosby and three impending free agents as players he expects to be back next year.
“I fully expect Maxx Crosby to re-sign and be back. If I’m a Raider fan I’m not even remotely worried about that,” Hondo said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “I would expect that Robert Spillane will be back. I think there’s a very good chance that Adam Butler will return and maybe even Tre’von Moehrig. I think as I move down the list, there’s a little bit bigger chance [they don’t stay].”
“I don’t think with Spillane, or Butler or Maxx the secret to getting them is paying them the most money,” Hondo added later in the podcast.
Based on rumblings around the league, Spillane and Moehrig could command top of the market price tags in free agency.
Spillane was on Hondo’s podcast earlier in the week and he didn’t hold back about his desire to re-sign with the Raiders.
“At the end of the day, there’s so much that needs to be done with the Las Vegas Raiders and I want to be a big part of that,” Spillane said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast earlier in the week.
“I love the organization. I love the ‘Just Win Baby.’ I love Mr. Davis. I love Maxx Crosby. I want to be a Raider. I feel like I’m a Raider for life,” Spillane continued. “The Raider logo fits be right and I would love to be a lifetime Raider. Obviously, we have to do what’s best for my family and myself so we’ll play it out [and] see if they want me to come back… I have yet to talk to John Spytek or coach Pete [Carroll], but we’ll see what happens.”
According to OverTheCap, only the New England Patriots are projected to have more cap room than the Raiders this year, so the decision-makers in Las Vegas should be able to re-sign their priority free agents.
Armed with upwards of $92 million in cap room, the Raiders have plenty of money to work with in free agency, but they also have a lot of holes to fill on the roster.
Based on everything that’s been reported to this point, it sounds like Spillane is going to be a high priority to bring back in 2025 and it would be a surprise if Moehrig doesn’t fit that description, as well.
Moehrig has earned a big pay day and the only detail that might work against him in contract negotiations is the fact that he’s entering free agency alongside a strong group of safeties.
The NFL’s “legal tampering” period behind on March 10 and players can officially sign contracts at 4:00 PM EST on March 12.
x: @raidersbeat
Have to keep Koonce
” YES WE DO !!!
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Hopefully now keeping Graham some will stay
Moehrig should be a priority. It would suck losing Spillane but we can find another LB pretty easily.
Koonce can go he had one decent season.
Te best predictor of future performance is past performance. In baseball, they really hone in on the past 3 seasons. This is especially important for younger and older players more so than prime/mid-career guys…. Koonce was a project as a 3rd round pick (probably what Tyree Wilson should have been in retrospect). Hist first two years were nothing special, but he took a leap in year 3. It’s too bad we don’t know what year 4 would have looked like, because we’d have more info, but he isn’t going to cost a fortune, and based on the current roster, they could definitely use him. Especially if Crosby asks for a trade or the Raiders decide to move him on their own.
Otherwise, I agree. Off-ball linebacker is just a less valuable position, and almost never worth paying a premium for. That’s why it was a bad sign when AP said he wanted to build around Spillane and Josh Jacobs. Acting like it was still 1995.