Silver And Black Pride
The Raiders sit at 2-7, there’s plenty of excuses, blame, and reasoning to go around on why they are sitting where they are. To start, the offense ranks 30th in yards/game, 27th in pass yds/game, 29th in rush yds/game, and 31st in points/game. On offense, they are downright horrendous, however it goes farther than that. Defensively the team ranks 19th in opponent yds/game, 20th in pass/yds game allowed, 14th in rush/yds game allowed, and 25th in points/game allowed.
Defensively they rank 32nd in EPA, DVOA, and have missed the most tackles so there’s that also. The Raiders have struggled to get turnovers on defense, while they have also struggled to generate pressure ranking 29th in pressure rate this season which is significantly down from even last season where they ranked 15th missing Malcolm Koonce and Maxx Crosby for significant parts of the season. Their linebacker play hasn’t been up to standards and their offensive line has seen struggles.
The Raiders lack talent on offense and have a ton of youth as well, though they haven’t seen a ton of production from that side of the room either. One standard that has stayed a little true has been their well below average quarterback play. Geno Smith ranks 16th in yards, 24th in yds/attempt, 27th in average depth of target, 21st in yards/game, 19th in touchdowns, 19th in big time throw rate, 8th in turnover worthy play rate, 31st in QBR, and all while having the most interceptions in the NFL as well. The Raiders need to improve in a ton of areas, quarterback play does seem like a large area that fans are looking at, and with that their options may be limited.
Geno Smith is the Raiders quarterback in 2026 till a move is made to decide something different, that’s just the flat truth. Smith signed a 2 year, 75 million extension this April which also guaranteed 58.5 million of that contract. The Raiders smartly guaranteed his entire 2025 salary (40 million) and just 18.5 million of his 2026 salary which does make the contract moveable. In addition, the main thing of note is that Geno Smith’s contract will earn an additional 8.5 million in guarantees for 2026 if he’s on the roster for the third day of the 2026 league year so a decision about his future would need to be made before that. The Raiders can release Smith and save 8 million in cap space while taking on 18.5 million in dead cap, this would happen whether they release him as a pre or post 6/1 slate. If somehow, and I mean somehow, the Raiders could trade Smith before the 3rd day of the league year they’ll have all 26.5 million come off the books but that’s about as likely as Alex Leatherwood signing this off-season. Smith hasn’t exactly lived up to his contract, but the veteran quarterback has shown some signs of resurgence when he was able to stay protected behind the offensive line...
