Las Vegas Raiders: A familiar face to run Josh McDaniels’ offense in 2023?

Las Vegas Raiders: A familiar face to run Josh McDaniels’s offense in 2023

Incumbent Jarrett Stidham

Jarrett Stidham showed some real promise against the 49ers. He also struggled in the last game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs. The biggest tell between both of those games was as previously mentioned, he was sacked 0 times against San Fransisco and 6 times against the Chiefs. That right there is a direct reflection of how this offense can live and die by the offensive line’s consistency.

Derek Carr stans will beat the table saying that his struggles were a direct reflection of this problem as well. His biggest critics will say that Stidham helped himself in the rare times he was pressured against the 49ers by using his feet and escaping the pocket, something we rarely saw from Derek Carr.

Due to the small sample size though, it’s hard to tell whether Jarrett Stidham’s success is something that can be sustained or if it was just a flash in the pan for one game. The thought of him only being 26 and also succeeding like he did in a system he knows front to back is very intriguing in regard to giving him the QB1 spot and seeing what he can do with it.

This front office needs to go into the 2023 season showing that they have a plan in place for the future. Giving him control of the offense would undoubtedly involve drafting what could be a franchise guy as a backup plan and someone who can give Stidham some competition. Whatever they do, it needs to be something that isn’t going to set them back or look like they aren’t moving forward with this team that has quite a bit of talent and went into this season by all accounts with a “win now” mentality.

I feel like sticking with Stidham gives them the opportunity to continue moving forward with the promise they had this year. Whether it means being the answer to their problems remains to be seen.