When the 2025 season ends, the Raiders are looking at a two or three-year rebuild and that’s something that everyone seems to agree on right now.
Even the most optimistic voices on the Raiders’ flagship radio station have been acknowledging it this week.
“I was listening to Jason Fitz as I drove in. He was on the morning show, and he was talking about the fact that maybe this team is going to need anywhere from 15 to 17 new starters next year. And I said to myself, wow, that’s a big number,” JT the Brick said on his Raider Nation Radio show this week.
“I took out my piece of paper, if you’re watching on the stream. He’s right.”
And while there will be plenty of time to add players and coaches in the offseason, all we can do for now is question where and when the train went so far off the tracks.
Former ESPN analyst Trey Wingo was a guest on the Raiders’ flagship radio station this week and said he believes the turning point of the organization was initiated three years ago.
“This was a team not too long ago that was on the goal line against the Bengals the year they went to the Super Bowl in the Wild Card round, and they were that close to knocking the Bengals out and advancing in the postseason. And since then, it’s been, for lack of a better term, a train wreck,” Wingo said on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness on Wednesday.
“And I think one of the mistakes the Raiders made as an organization [is] they didn’t listen to their players,” Wingo continued.
“You listen to the players. When Rich Bisaccia took over for Jon Gruden after he caught the stray from the Washington Football Team and now Commanders’ email saga… they wanted Rich to stay and Mark Davis was like, ‘That’s not going to happen. We need to go get a name.’ So they went and got a name in Josh McDaniels, and it’s been a disaster ever since.”
One player that would probably tend to agree with Wingo is Raiders’ All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
Two years after the Raiders chose McDaniels over Bisaccia, Crosby admitted the organization made a mistake.
Speaking on his podcast, Crosby said “We f—ed it all up” by not retaining Bisaccia.
Whether Bisaccia would have kept the Raiders moving in the right direction or not, we’ll never know. But there’s no question that hiring Josh McDaniels was a huge mistake for the organization.
Not only did McDaniels fail as a head coach, but he also ushered in two drafts that are still haunting the Raiders today.
McDaniels traded his first and second round picks in 2022 for Davante Adams, which made sense at the time, and followed up the following year by drafting Tyree Wilson with the seventh-overall pick.
Adams demanded a trade in October of last year and the pick gained from the Jets in the Adams trade turned into Geno Smith.
Safe to say, there will be no picks coming to Las Vegas in exchange for Smith… but there might be some dead money on the way.
As ESPN’s Rich Eisen said earlier in the week (below), whatever the Raiders had in mind with Smith, Pete Carroll and the rest of the coaching staff in Las Vegas… it’s not working.
The good news for the Raiders and everyone rooting for them is that they are currently projected by Spotrac to have the most salary cap room in the NFL next year (nearly $120 million) and will almost definitely have a top 5 pick in the 2026 draft.
x: @raidersbeat
I agree!
They were amongst the top teams with salary cap $ this past season, what fid it net them? NOTHING, because the HC and GM have no idea how to evaluate talent. Every fan that watch last season knew the OL was garbage except for these two morons. That oversight led to this lost season. Mark is stupid for allowing a rookie like Brady to lead the organization. He has no experience.
Bingo!
I’m not going disagree with Wingo’s take, especially when Markie decided to make the Raiders into the Patriots. (NOW He’s Doing it Again) (Crazy is doing the same thing over and over) The Nation knew it was a bad plan, first mistake was bringing in a primadona WR for the top two picks. It actually goes back further than that moment; Gruden bringing in Antonio Brown, that was the beginning of the end to his second regime. Before that, the old man bringing in Randy Moss as a quick fix (who was our QB?). Now these guys take a #6 pick on Aston Jenty. This team is always looking for a corvette, instead of building a team road graters so that superstar can shine. Who are Pete Banazak, Marv Hubbard, Clarence Davis, Mark Van Eeghan? They looked pretty darn good running behind guys named Shell, Upshaw, Bueller, Dalby, Otto. Yes, Marcus Allen, but Mickey Marvin, Don Mosebar, Steve Sylvester, Henry Lawrence were road graters.
Pete is a questionable candidate for HC. Why did the seagulls cut him loose? And is there definitive improvement since Pete walked away? McDaniels was a sure fire bust, and lo and behold he repeated in Las Vegas exactly what led to his demise in Denver. Gruden was far from a hot dog draft genius, and his ego ran away with the spoon. His play calling was ho hum, and that was illustrated after he walked away. Biscaccia listened to the players and coaches and the record improved. Mark is a good guy, but not a good leader of a once great franchise. I had a couple of whack jobs for bosses, and it is depressing to try and lead employees when the top dog is screwing stuff up over and over.
They are losers and always will be as long as the Davis family is in charge. Just that simple. Mark Davis should just go. Just go away .