The Las Vegas Raiders have a lot of work to do to bridge the gap between them and Kansas City, but is it a real possibility to do it in one off-season?
Going into the 2022 NFL season, plenty of fans were down on the Kansas City Chiefs, and high on the Las Vegas Raiders. Kansas City traded away star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins last offseason, and the Silver and Black, coming off a playoff berth in 2021, added the best wide receiver in football, Davante Adams.
It was seen that the Raiders had finally bridged the gap between themselves and the Chiefs, a notion that quickly went out the window once the games started to be played. Kansas City once again was a top team in the AFC, while the Raiders, coughed up a chance to punch their ticket to the playoffs for the second season in a row.
In the end, Kansas City hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, and the Raiders finished the first year of the Josh McDaniels and David Ziegler era with a 6-11 record. During that time, Las Vegas suffered some incredible losses, including one against the Chiefs, where they held a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, only to see Kansas City slowly chip away, and win 30-29.
So going into 2023, how far apart are these two franchises?
Raiders are far away from the Chiefs in all aspects of the game
We can start at the top, as Patrick Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and the Raiders currently have Chase Garbers as the only quarterback on their roster. Las Vegas does have some incredible weapons, including Darren Waller, Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, and Hunter Renfrow, but Kansas City counters with outstanding weapons of their own.
Up front on both sides of the ball, Kansas City has the advantage, as the did not allow a single sack against a tough Eagles pass rush in the Super Bowl. Everywhere you look, from coaches to player personnel, the gap between these two organizations continues to get wider and wider.
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With so many issues to take care of this offseason, and the quarterback being the biggest, can McDaniels and Ziegler put a roster together that could put up a fight with the Chiefs? The gap has widened in a big way, with the Raiders winning six games, and Kansas City winning the Lombardi Trophy, so don’t expect one offseason to be the fix the Silver and Black needs to get to the top of the AFC West.