ClutchPoints
With John Spytek and Pete Carroll now in charge, the Las Vegas Raiders will begin a new era in 2025. After a 4-13 effort in 2024, the Raiders have a lot of work to do during the 2025 NFL offseason in the trade market, free agency, and draft.
The Raiders will enter Lambeau Field in April with the No. 6 overall pick. Given the blatant holes on their roster, that selection could truly go in any direction. Las Vegas would love to take a quarterback, but both Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders are expected to be gone before its selection. The 2025 NFL Draft quarterback class is likely not deep enough to have three signal-callers taken in the top 10.
While Carroll is the ideal coach to take over a struggling franchise, the current state of Las Vegas’ offense puts the team in a dire position. The Raiders ended 2024 without a firm solution at quarterback, running back or receiver. Star rookie Brock Bowers gave them everything they wanted at tight end but had virtually nothing around him to sustain consistent success.
Defense will also be a concern for the team, especially going from a defensive-minded head coach in Antonio Pierce to Carroll. During his final years with the Seattle Seahawks, Carroll’s defense consistently ranked near the bottom of the league.
The Raiders have too many issues to solve in just one offseason, but regardless, Spytek will need to hit the trade market to give Carroll a running start.
DK Metcalf is at a weird spot in his career. He is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career in 2024 as a direct consequence of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s second-year breakout. Metcalf will enter a contract year in 2025, potentially making him a trade target for the Raiders to pursue in the 2025 NFL offseason.
If Metcalf is moved, a reunion with Carroll in Las Vegas would be ideal. The best years of his career came under Carroll, and he is clearly not resonating with Geno Smith as well as Smith-Njigba has. It just so happens that the Raiders are in desperate need of receiving help. Metcalf would immediately be their best wideout by a mile.
In 2024, the Raiders were led by Bowers’ 1,194 receiving yards. Jakobi Meyers was right behind him with 1,027 to lead the receivers. No other player even topped 600 yards on the year.
Meyers, for as consistent as he is, profiles more as a WR2 than a WR1. The Raiders are going to bring in a new quarterback in 2025, and regardless of who it is, he will need an alpha target.
If Spytek pursues this route, acquiring Metcalf would not be cheap. In 2025, he will enter the final year of his $72 million extension, which has a cap hit of $31.8 million. But Las Vegas has the room to make it work, and few moves would be smarter to open the Pete Carroll era.
Rachaad White -----------------...
