The offseason brought plenty of changes for the Las Vegas Raiders. The new regime, led by head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek, expects to compete with Geno Smith under center and a duo of Patrick Graham and Chip Kelly calling plays.
Las Vegas may have lost several high-end free agents, but they also found a slew of solid veterans to replace them. The draft class that they brought in has also been highly celebrated, so optimism is high for Raider Nation.
However, not everybody is expecting this team to be dramatically improved in 2025.
ESPN predicts Raiders to have No. 3 overall pick
ESPN's Mike Clay recently released his 2025 projections for every NFL team. This included individual player statistics, team win totals, and where different components of the team's roster rank compared to other teams in the league.
While Clay does not explain exactly what went into these rankings or projections, his predictions for the Raiders were quite grim. He did predict that the Raiders would improve their win total from four to 6.3, but that came with a caveat: Las Vegas ends up with the No. 3 overall pick in next year's draft.
Clay's overall ranking of the roster was a bit disrespectful, as evidenced by his giving the Raiders' quarterback room a grade of four out of 10. This would certainly be a disappointing campaign for the Silver and Black, but the silver lining is that the team would be perfectly situated to draft a franchise quarterback.
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Fortunately, the 2026 NFL Draft is supposed to be loaded with great young signal-callers. This means that the No. 3 overall pick would surely net the franchise a game-changing player under center, as top names in the class include Arch Manning, Cade Klubnik, LaNorris Sellers and Drew Allar.
While in the short-term, this would be another miserable season for Raider Nation, it could actually improve the long-term outlook of the team. However, it is never certain that a quarterback draft class will live up to the hype, just look at Shedeur Sanders this year.
There is also a chance that some players don't declare for the event, but regardless, this high of a pick would give the franchise an opportunity to grab a quarterback that can compete with the elite players in the NFL. The Raiders have not had that in a long time.