Will the 2025-26 Season Determine the Outlook of the Raiders for the Rest of Their Decade?
The Raiders were not good last year. A bold statement, I know, but an unfortunately evergreen one, as football fans have been both saying and hearing such a proclamation for over 20 years now. Seriously, with the exception of only two seasons in the last 22 years, the Raiders have ranged from godawful to merely mediocre. 2021 and 2016 were the only such seasons during that period where the Raiders posted a winning record, and, wouldn’t you know it, they actually made the playoffs both of those years. Unfortunately for Raider Nation, they were bounced out of the Wild Card Round both times, in 2021 against the Super Bowl-bound Bengals, and in 2016 shortly following the season-ending injury to MVP candidate Derek Carr.
I don’t say all of this to mock the Raiders or their fans; I’m contextualizing the background of disappointment that Raiders fans, amongst the most passionate in the entire football world, have come to expect for the vast majority of the 21st century. It’s not like the Raiders, as an organization, haven’t tried very, very hard to change their fortunes. They’ve taken big swings over the last two decades that have, unfortunately, more often than not, done little to make the future any brighter. From huge draft busts like JaMarcus Russell, to the controversial rehiring, then firing, of Jon Gruden, to the huge move from Oakland to Las Vegas. All of these were monumental shifts for the Raiders organization that all panned out worse than they had planned. The Raiders aren’t afraid of taking a chance, taking a big swing for the fences; they just have the rotten luck of missing a lot.
This year feels different. Yes, I’m sure many Raiders fans have said that exact statement many times over the aforementioned past two decades of disappointment. However, I’m not a delusional homer trying to manifest a good outcome for the silver and black; I’m a fan of a heated rival who sees genuine promise in the Raiders of tomorrow. The air is different around Las Vegas this offseason.
The Raiders have been putting the pieces of a true paradigm shift together. In terms of players, they went and snagged the veteran Geno Smith, in the midst of a true career renaissance, from free agency, while also drafting the electric Ashton Jeanty, a young man who brings just what the team badly needs. Meanwhile, the Raiders also retained the elite defensive presence of Maxx Crosby by signing him to a big-money three-year extension. Leading these players will be the venerable Pete Carroll, returning to coaching football after a year away following his departure from the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll brings both a championship pedigree and an outstanding hand for culture building that could reverberate through the Raiders organization for years to come. Last, but certainly not least, is the addition of one Tom Brady, not as a player, but as a minority owner with a lot of say over football operations.
When you tally all of this up, you see that the Raiders aren’t making a play to just be good this season; they’re trying to establish a tone that will be felt for the rest of the decade. Veteran QBs, game-breaking running backs, elite edge rushers, a title-winning, culture-first head coach, and the GOAT himself as an executive power broker; that’s all a recipe to build a contender. True, the Raiders could find themselves in the familiar position of missing their big swing and having to reset everything for the future. If that does happen, it will likely take the organization to the end of the decade still trying to recover. If fate smiles on the Raiders in the midst of their huge pivot, then the late 2020s going into the 2030s could see Las Vegas greatly honor their famous motto: Just Win, Baby.
