Ian Hartitz presents the team needs for the Las Vegas Raiders going into the NFL Draft and 2025 Season.
 

Vibes were moving in the right direction for the Raiders ahead of 2024. Antonio Pierce was well on his way to bringing back "The Raider Way" after winning three of his final four games of 2023, and a pair of September victories against reigning playoff squads in the Ravens (!) and the Browns reinforced the idea that maybe this team wasn't so bad.

… and then the Raiders lost 10 straight games by an average of 11.2 points per game. A pair of rather meaningless Week 16 and 17 victories over the Jaguars and Saints weren't enough to save Pierce's job, leading to the Raiders hiring Mr. Pete Carroll–their fifth head coach in as many seasons.

Priority No. 1 has to be fixing this offense. We're talking about arguably the single-worst group in the NFL here.

Today we'll recap some of the good and bad of 2024 before getting into potential offseason injuries to monitor as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 4-13 (6.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 18.2 (29th)
  • EPA per dropback: -0.058 (28th)
  • EPA per rush: -0.283 (32nd)
  • Points per game allowed: 25.5 (25th)
  • Leading passer: Gardner Minshew (2,013 pass yards, 9 TD, 10 INT)
  • Leading rusher: Alexander Mattison (132 carries, 420 yards, 4 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Brock Bowers (112 receptions, 1,194 yards, 5 TD)

Biggest surprise: TE Brock Bowers

Look, expectations were plenty high for Bowers coming out of Georgia; the Raiders used the 13th overall pick on him for a reason.

That said, pulling off, you know, the single-best rookie season *ever* at the position constitutes a surprise. Bowers' 112 receptions shattered Sam LaPorta's previous record (86), and his 1,194 receiving yards finally took down Mike Ditka's 63-year-old record (1,076). Nobody at the position wound up with more PPR points than Bowers; he now joins LaPorta, Travis Kelce, and Mark Andrews as the only TEs that can say that since 2015!

The fact Bowers achieved all this with near-league-worst QB play is even more impressive. The 22-year-old talent might just be scratching the surface on what he's capable of; Bowers is more than deserving of overall TE1 treatment in dynasty land and 2025 fantasy drafts.

Biggest disappointment: RB Zamir White

There were always red flags with White ahead of 2024. The Raiders didn't exactly boast a great scoring environment, the pass-catching ability at hand was in question, and most of White's upside was simply tied to a four-game stretch at the end of 2023.

But man, things were REALLY rough last season. White was arguably the single-worst RB in the league.

White among 60 RBs with 65-plus carries in 2024:

  • Yards per carry: 2.8 (60th)
  • Yards after contact per carry: 2.06 (59th)
  • Missed tackles forced per carry: 9.2% (57th)
  • Explosive run rate: 3.1% (58th)
  • PFF run grade: 40.8 (60th)

In October groin injury and November quad strain didn't help matters; just realize White was already starting to lose his job to career backups Alexander Mattison and Ameer Abdullah even before the injuries came into play. Rough stuff indeed–and a good reminder for future drafts to be VERY careful about drafting an RB just for the (hopeful) volume involved.

Key injuries

All fantasy-relevant parties are tentatively expected to be good to go for offseason activities in Las Vegas. The only potential near-term exception is incumbent starting QB Gardner Minshew, whose season was cut short in November after suffering a broken collarbone. Of course, it'd be rather shocking if the Raiders actually look to enter 2025 with Minshew as their QB1 again.

 

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Raiders Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Quarterback

There were 37 QBs who took at least 500 dropbacks over the past two seasons … and the Raiders currently employ three of the bottom-10 signal-callers in EPA per dropback. Not great!

Ultimately, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that neither Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell, nor Desmond Ridder are the answer here. Maybe they look to trade up in the draft to secure one of Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward. Perhaps a veteran like Russell Wilson or Sam Darnold is the move. WHAT IF TOM F*CKING BRADY COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT?!

Sorry, got excited there for a second, but yeah: The Raiders will continue to be the punch line of the AFC West for as long as they remain the only team without anything resembling a long-term plan at the QB position. 

Team Need No. 2: Offensive line

PFF's reigning 26th-ranked offensive line ranked dead last in yards before contact per carry and 29th in average time to pressure allowed. Not exactly a great combo, and accordingly pretty much all parties involved should be evaluated ahead of next season—particularly with Las Vegas presently having the league's fifth-fewest 2025 dollars devoted to the big uglies as a whole.

Hopefully 2024 second-rounder Jackson Powers-Johnson and third-rounder Delmar Glaze are long-term answers, but they represent the only top-80 selections still on the roster from the last six drafts combined. In the absence of a complete game-changer at QB, Las Vegas has a lot of work to do basically everywhere; shoring up the line of scrimmage seems like a good place to start.

Team Need No. 3: Secondary

We could have easily added RB or WR here as well (with all due respect to Jakobi Meyers), but the league's reigning 25th-ranked scoring defense doesn't deserve to get off Michael Scott-free. Not today. Not on my watch.

Anyway, both of the team's starting safeties join cornerback Nate Hobbs as unrestricted free agents. The latter corner was the team's only player with a PFF grade inside the position's top 90 last year; more help is needed even if all parties involved are brought back on new deals.

At a minimum, actual living, breathing human beings are badly needed across the secondary: The Raiders presently have a league-low $12.7 million devoted to their corners and safeties in 2025—nobody else is under even $15 million.