On the Clock: 2023 Las Vegas Raiders

What can you say about the Raiders that hasn’t already been a M. Night Shyamalan movie? The Raiders will and always will be the Raiders.  It seems to be the way that things go when Josh McDaniels gets involved.  Picking 7th isn’t exactly ideal when trying to get a franchise quarterback but recent history has proven otherwise.  The Raiders are oftentimes a tire fire, and we are all here to watch it unfold. ​

2022 Record: 6-11
GM: Dave Ziegler
HC: Josh McDaniels
OC: Mick Lombardi
DC: Patrick Graham

Statistical Leaders:

Offense: 12th Scoring
Derek Carr  60.8%, 3522 24-14
Josh Jacobs 340-1653-12
Davante Adams 100-1516-14

Defense: 26th Scoring
Maxx Crosby 89 Tak, 12.5 Sacks, 22 TFL
Amik Robertson 9 PD
Denzel Perryman 14 TFL

Notable Free Agents:

Pos, Name, Age, Contract Status, 2022 Snap Count
RB - Josh Jacobs (25), UFA, 74.5%
WR - Mack Hollins (30), UFA, 93.5%
IDL - Jerry Tillery (27), UFA, 41.0%

Draft Picks:

(11) Projected Cost of Rookie Picks in 2023: $14.1m
Round 1 #7
Round 2 #38
Round 3 #70
Round 4 #109
Round 5 #143
Round 5 #146
Round 5 #174
Round 6 #204
Round 6 #214
Round 7 #222
Round 7 #233

Salary Cap:

The Raiders are currently 19m under the salary cap with 48 players on their roster, but the one player that is soon to NOT be on their roster will impact their salary cap.  By the time you read this article, Derek Carr will have likely been released, opening up a cap savings of nearly 30m for the Raiders.  Adding that to their already existing cap space, they then have 11 picks that will cost them 14m.  The million-dollar question, literally, after that happens is “What will Las Vegas do now at the quarterback position?” 
Aside from that Chandler Jones has a roster bonus of 8.5m due in 2023.  He will be 33 next season and already has 2 voided years built into his contract.  The Raiders could convert that roster bonus to a signing bonus and prorate that over the last 4 years of his deal opening up 6m more for 2023. Ya know, if you like that kind of thing.

Restructure/Re-sign:

Las Vegas also has to make a decision on their running back situation.  They elected not to pick up the 5th-year option on Josh Jacobs, the reigning rushing champion, and that could hurt them in the long run. (No pun intended).  They did what most teams do with a running back on a contract year, completely bury him.  In his 4-year career, Jacobs has 1,072 carries with 340 of them coming last year.  Prior to that his max number of carries was in 2020 when it was 273.  The Raiders were thinking if they weren’t going to have Jacobs in 2023, then whoever got him was going to have damaged goods.  Trying to replace a starting quarterback is bad enough, but also trying to replace 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns is insurmountable, especially when you have the defending Super Bowl Champion in your division.  ​

Free Agency/Draft:

Quarterbacks and Running Backs aside, the Raiders have 11 picks in the upcoming draft however 7 of those picks are 5th round and later.  That might work out better for Las Vegas.  In 2019 they had 3 selections in the first round.  They picked Clelin Ferrell (didn’t pick up the 5th-year option and is a free agent), Jacobs (5th-year option not picked up) and Johnathan Abraham (currently in Seattle).  We are talking about the Raiders, remember, so wherever they go in the draft, it will surely be a show, but hell if we know where they are going.