In their latest Football Power Index rankings, ESPN ranked the Las Vegas Raiders dead last in a tough AFC West, as they landed at No. 23 overall.
Based on what we have seen in terms of power rankings heading into the 2020 NFL season, the Las Vegas Raiders appear to have no real shot of doing anything of substance. However, as we have seen from year to year, these power rankings do not mean much, as teams seemingly come out of nowhere each year to contend.
What makes this offseason so odd is the fact that the Raiders improved on both sides of the ball, and have a lot of hype heading into their first season in Sin City. Still, the media experts are not impressed, and when it comes to ESPN, they like the Raiders to finish dead last in a tough AFC West.
Las Vegas Raiders shown no love
The Football Power Index was released on May 26, and ESPN’s Seth Walder ranked the Raiders at No. 23 overall. In terms of the AFC West, that ranking puts the Raiders behind the other three teams in the division, which is really absurd considering how much better the roster is in 2020, and where they finished up last year.
Coming off a seven-win season, which was a three-game improvement, the Raiders shored up issues on both sides of the ball, including getting immensely better at linebacker. In addition, Derek Carr is entering his third season in Jon Gruden’s offense, and is fresh off setting a career-high in passing yards with minimal weapons at wide receiver.
In addition, ESPN stated that the Raiders have a project win total of 6.9, which is just a shade better than the New York Jets, and only a 24 percent chance of making it to the playoffs. With the expanding playoffs, the Raiders’ chances should be much higher, but until they begin to get it done on the field, there is no way this team is going to get much love this offseason.
While Carr played well statistically last season, him being the team’s starting quarterback has not brought many wins, as the Silver and Black have made only one playoff appearance in his six years as the starter. A lot of the blame could be placed on the fact that he has been through numerous coaches, systems, and has seen nearly all of his teammates shipped off.
Still, the organization has done a nice job building around him the previous two offseasons since Mike Mayock became the general manager, and the time has come for Carr and the Raiders to start being a consistently good football team.
Division rival Kansas City was the No. 1 ranked team in the rankings, and rightfully so, as they are coming off a Super Bowl win and have nearly their entire team coming back. However, the fact that the Raiders are below the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos is pretty shocking, as based on coaching, and talent, they are not the worst team in the division heading into 2020.