Raider Nation finally got some mercy this week as the Las Vegas Raiders had their bye week. It was the first Sunday in over a month that fans didn't have to endure watching the Silver and Black lose.
However, there are still eight games left on the schedule and likely many more losses on the way. At this point, the Raiders are better off losing as many games as possible to ensure a top-five draft pick. In fact, they might be bad enough to get the No. 1 pick, according to ESPN.
Jordan Reid recently predicted that the Raiders will lose the rest of their games and end up with the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
"After firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, a strong argument could be made they are already the worst team in the NFL," Reid wrote. "There are nine teams with two or fewer wins, which is tied for the most teams through Week 9 since the 1970 merger, per ESPN Research (nine teams in 2006). The Raiders have lost their past five games, and I expect that streak to climb to 13 by season's end. They'll have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 2007, when they selected JaMarcus Russell with the franchise's only top selection."
Look, nobody wants to watch their team lose 13 straight games. There will be fans who pay a lot of money to watch the Raiders play live this season and they're likely going to be disappointed. That said, this is likely the best outcome for Las Vegas.
A 2-15 season might be enough to convince owner Mark Davis to make a coaching change. Antonio Pierce is clearly not the right guy but if the team wins three or four games down the stretch, that may be enough for him to get another year.
The Raiders also need a quarterback but there's no guarantee they'll get the one they like unless they have the No. 1 pick. We've seen how quickly a good quarterback can turn a franchise around. The Raiders need to lose a lot more games this season to ensure that happens.