Silver And Black Pride
The Raiders released their initial 53 man roster on Tuesday, and following completed some additional transactions to complete out the rest of the roster. Las Vegas had some losses in the offseason and then added some notable additions as well. The Raiders did make strides when it came to their coaching staff, hiring super bowl winning and likely future Hall of Famer Pete Carroll at head coach and former Eagles HC Chip Kelly as their OC. Las Vegas made some additional additions when it came to their positional coaching staff, notably on the offensive side of the ball, but additions were made on defense too. The Raiders coaching staff turnover makes the off-season moves largely to be seen, and the coaches will elevate talent as well. Looking at the baseline talent, how did the Raiders fare in their offseason moves?
* Key Note: Losses and Additions will be factored in however players who didn’t play large snap shares such as Christian Wilkins don’t have as much of an impact as someone with a large snap share * – Defense will be posted shortly after this article as well.
I don’t really know how much I have to explain this one, last season the Raiders played three different quarterbacks (four with Carter Bradley taking a couple knee and rushing snaps). Gardner Minshew, signed as a free agent, was extremely underwhelming tossing 9 TD and 10 INT with 2013 yards and a 66.3% comp rate. Additionally, he logged a 1.5% Big Time Throw Rate (BTT) and a 2.4% Turnover Worthy Play Rate (TWP). Minshew also added a 81.0 QBR. Meanwhile, his backup?, Aidan O’Connell tossed a 63.4% completion rate for 1612 yards, 8 TD, and 4 INT. However, O’Connell also added a 3.6% TWP rate, a 4.6% BTT rate, and 86.7 QBR. O’Connell didn’t look horrible but he was far from a starting caliber QB and was simply a backup caliber QB thrust into a starting role due to injuries and poor play. Lastly, Desmond Ridder, signed halfway through the season ended up logging 85 pass attempts where he tossed 2 TD and 2 INT with a 61.2% completion rate, 458 yards, and a 73.6 QBR. Ridder also logged a 4.5% BTT rate and a 4.8% TWP rate.
The Raiders knew they needed to add a new QB, and traded for Geno Smith who started for the Seahawks the last three seasons and now will make the same strides in Las Vegas. Smith tossed 4320 yards, 21 TD, and 15 INT while also completing 70.4% of his attempts behind the NFL’s 28th ranked offensive line. Smith also logged an elite 4.5% BTT rate, was graded the best QB on 20+ yard throws, and had a phenomenal 2.6% TWP rate (18 plays). Smith also logged a 93.2 QBR which was top 8 in the NFL. The Raiders needed a clear QB upgrade, and Smith provides that....
