Sin City Raiders

The 2025 Las Vegas Raiders will look very different from their 2024 version, but not as different as they could be. It is very rare in the NFL that a new head coach will arrive and retain assistants from the previous staff, let alone coordinators. However, that is the case with the Silver and Black going forward. New head coach Pete Carroll made the unusual move to retain Patrick Graham, who will be the Raiders’ defensive coordinator for the fourth season under a third different head coach.

Both the new head coach with a defensive background and the returning defensive coordinator have work to do.

The Raiders are coming off a year where they allowed 434 points; 25th-most in the NFL. The unit was rated by PFF among the bottom-five defenses in the league. Yes, injuries to Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins and others can’t be ignored as those were monumental losses, but in football you have to have the “next man up” philosophy as injuries are just a part of the game. Also worth noting is that the low grades and ranks by PFF and other stats are not exclusive to 2024.

Patrick Graham joined the Raiders in 2022 and that was a down-year by many ratings and rankings as well. According to Pro Football Reference, the Silver and Black were bottom-six in points and yards allowed and were last in takeaways. Perhaps the most worrisome stat was that the defense recorded 27 sacks, and 12.5 of those came from Maxx Crosby. In all fairness, it was Graham’s first year and it takes time to coach new schemes and to find the players who thrive in the new system. But no team with “The Condor” should be at the bottom of the league in sacks.

Then in 2023, it became a turbulent year for the franchise as they made an all-too-common midseason coaching change. However, the famous Halloween transition from Josh McDaniels to Antonio Pierce brought out the best version of the Raider defense that we have seen in quite some time. In a season highlighted by a Christmas win in Kansas City, they finished the season as a Top-10 scoring defense and were 15th in yards allowed. Unfortunately, the progress seen late in 2023 did not continue into 2024 as we saw earlier.

Despite the low statistical ratings as a unit in 2022, half of 2023 and again in 2024, there have been solid individuals on that side of the ball for the Raiders. However, several of them walked away as free agents. Robert Spillane, Tre’von Moehrig, Divine Deablo, Marcus Epps and Nate Hobbs signed around the league in free agency and the Raiders went out of their way to release Jack Jones; who had previously been their CB1.

Although his coverage was rated by PFF as 168th out of 222 corners, Jack Jones is young, has upside and if nothing else is a body in a thin position group. Should the season kickoff today, the Raiders would be starting Eric Stokes and Darien Porter, based on how they lined up in OTAs. Although Stokes was a first-round pick in Green Bay four years ago, he hasn’t been able to stay on the field consistently. And while Porter is one of the most exciting prospects the Raiders’ defense has seen in quite some time with his size and speed, he switched to corner from receiver in college and is a project by NFL standards.

Carroll, Graham and the decision-makers in Vegas did more to address the losses of Spillane, Deablo, Epps and Moehrig by signing Elandon Roberts, Devin White and Germaine Pratt to restock the linebacker room and they added Jeremy Chinn to the safeties room, although it sounds like Chinn will play safety, linebacker and maybe even slot corner this year. However, it is worth noting that Graham tends to use the nickel formation the most, which calls for only two ‘backers and brings a slot-corner onto the field. And with the Raiders cornerback room in it’s current shape, we do not know who that is.

It is fair to argue that with the overall play of the defense during Graham’s tenure, maybe change is necessary. Or, you could say that the departing free agents were overpaid around the league. Personally, this writer would have liked to dip into all that cap space we have to match New England’s offer to Spillane of three years and $37.5 million based on his play and his wearing of the important “green dot” at middle linebacker. Meanwhile, I would not have matched the three years, $51 million that Moehrig got from Carolina.

At this moment, the Raider starting defense (in a 4-3 formation) could look something like this. Up front we have Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins, Adam Butler and Malcolm Koonce with some sort of combination of Roberts, White and Pratt lined up at the three ‘backer spots. Then there are the defensive backs where we have the aforementioned Stokes and Porter on the outside, with Jakorian Bennett in the mix as he returns from injury. Over the top there is the young and exciting, but relatively inexperienced Isaiah Pola-Mao alongside free-agent signee Jeremy Chinn.

Things can change as we get into training camp and preseason, but at the moment there are three glaring questions with this group. One, what is going on with Wilkins’s foot injury? He was spotted recently still in a walking boot. To hold him out of minicamps and OTAs as a precaution is one thing. For him to still be wearing the boot is another. Two, how confident can we be with the current group of cornerbacks? Do we think Carroll can replicate his past success with defensive backs such as the famous “Legion of Boom” from ten years ago?

And three, is Patrick Graham the man for the job of bringing out the best in the Raiders’ defense? It has been and up-and-down three years under his watch. He is respected around the league as evidenced by being a finalist for head coaching jobs and he has survived two coaching changes in Vegas. However, the on-field play of the Silver and Black cannot be ignored.

Pete Carroll, with his defensive pedigree, would have been forgiven for moving on from Patrick Graham and bringing in his guy. And Graham could have been forgiven for taking a job elsewhere for a fresh start. But for now, Carroll and Graham are going to be working together to make the Raiders’ defense the best it can be.