The Raiders are one game away from cementing the worst record in the league for the 2025 season, and there have been plenty theories offered (and plenty more to come) around why the season has been such a disappointment.
For the decision makers in the Raiders’ building, the challenge going forward will be to figure out what needs to change going into next year and veteran defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV might have offered a few hints after Sunday’s loss to the Giants.
Asked by Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter where the Raiders need to improve going forward, Booker made some interesting remarks.
“I think first off is discipline, right? I think you saw me today, I jumped on fourth and one. So I take that myself and I take accountability for my actions first and foremost,” Booker told Carpenter.
“I think on top of that, too, just communication and accountability, right? I think that at the end of the day, football is a game where you have to understand pre-snap communication, where things are going, how fronts are changing, all the rest of it. So the guys can be accountable to whether gaps are supposed to be or whatever else,” Booker continued.
I think we all have a role in that. I think that I’ve never been a fan of pointing fingers at anybody. It’s a team for a reason. We have multiple layers of everything that we do, whether it’s coaches, whether it’s coordinators, whether it’s players, all the rest of it. We all have a role in that in making sure job descriptions are clear, job descriptions are followed, and when they’re not followed, it’s pointed out so we can correct it. So I think those are two of the big things.”
Booker seemed to point the finger at everyone in the building, including himself, but his comments about understanding job descriptions and creating better accountability stood out.
And in his follow up remarks, Booker made it clear he wasn’t just talking about the coaching staff.
“We have a lot of talented players in our roster, straight up point-blank period. So I think the question is again, is how do us as players, the staff, all the rest of it, how do we come together to create a team that is consistently performing and consistently playing assignment sound football?” Booker continued.
“That is the question. I think that’s something we have to answer ourselves. To a certain extent, it’s a player-driven league. It’s one of those things where you can point fingers all you want to coaches, staff, all the rest of it. You can do that all that you want. But at the end of the day, when you turn the tape on, it is us out there on the field.”
“So how do we create an environment where it’s very clear what we need, what we want, if that’s fluid, how it changes, all the rest of it. That sort of stuff is, again, what’s going to separate us because we do have talent. All teams in the league have extreme amounts of talent on the roster… Yes, there are players who are top of the league players or whatever else, but everyone is here for a reason… it’s just about how do we consistently perform. That’s what it is.”
Booker’s comments carry a little more weight considering he was part of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl team a year ago and showed up in Las Vegas this year to be a part of the Raiders’ worst season in recent memory.
He knows what a winning culture does and doesn’t look like.
Maybe Booker will add a little clarity to his thoughts in the weeks ahead, but it sounds like the situation in the Raiders’ locker room has issues from top to bottom.
It’s obvious, though, that he feels like the Raiders have enough talent on the roster to compete at a higher level than what they did in 2025.
x: @raidersbeat
I think the whole Raider culture is bad and has been for sometime, now. It’s going to take a Jimmy Johnson type HC to get it turned around. I would say the team has some talent but is lacking talent, mostly. If we get the top pick there’s an opportunity to really get some difference making talent, but the question is, do we have the right people making the call on selecting said talent? This is a very important draft for this team.
💯 on this issue. Mark entrusted Tom, Tom entrusted Spy & Pete. The team is filled out with older less talented players that Pete was comfortable with. Spytek worked with Pete way to much. The AJ pick in itself should be a fireable offense but since that was a Pete pick I’d even give Spy a pass and that’s coming from a guy who didn’t like the Spytek hire.