Whereas this time last year, Las Vegas Raiders fans were left with an unquenched thirst for free agency additions, the fans have been drowning in new acquisitions this offseason. John Spytek had both the cap space and the need to spend cash in free agency, and he delivered with big moves.
The second-year general manager went big fishing for Tyler Linderbaum and landed him, then followed that up with a solid slew of signings, including wide receiver Jalen Nailor, linebacker duo Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker, edge rusher Kwity Paye, and some good special teams additions.
While the Raiders have been widely considered free agency winners, outside of a few detractors, it's more important that everyone in the building sees the vision that the front office is implementing. Based on what Ashton Jeanty recently said, it seems like the belief is already there.
Ashton Jeanty is hyped about Raiders' FA and Maxx Crosby's return
Jeanty streamed on YouTube last week in the immediate aftermath of the Maxx Crosby trade falling through. While he touched on that briefly (more on that later), he spent more time answering fan questions about the free agency period thus far.
"I'm not going to lie, the moves we made (are) astronomical. They've been great so far. Kubiak, Spytek, they cookin. They cooking right now, bro. They overly cooking," Jeanty said, before reading another fan question. "Am I happy we got Tyler [Linderbaum]? Come on, bro. What kind of question is that? It's up this year."
Linderbaum may be the single best thing to happen to Jeanty and the Raiders' offense, especially with Fernando Mendoza likely coming to Las Vegas via the No. 1 pick in April. Jeanty then answered another question about the additions of Linderbaum and Kubiak.
"How do I feel about my new center? I feel good. I feel great, man," Jeanty said. "Excited for the new coach, for sure. You know, they making some great moves already. I'm excited for the season, bro. It's going to be great."
Now, offseason excitement is certainly one thing. Every offseason, teams do their best to make sure that things look promising, at least on paper, but carrying that out in practices and games is something entirely different. The Raiders and their fans learned that last offseason.
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But something just feels different about this offseason, and maybe it isn't an accident that Crosby, who deserves to be a part of the franchise's success after sticking it out for so long, is now essentially being forced back into the fold. Jeanty touched on that briefly.
"I mean, if bro stay, I don't know. I don't know if that can happen, but if he stay, bro, the squad is gonna be overly crazy," Jeanty said, grinning. "Maxx is a real one, though. I can't lie, So, I just hope everything works out for him, bro. The way it's supposed to."
Jeanty wouldn't get into the weeds of the Crosby discussion, noting that he doesn't make personnel decisions. But it wasn't hard to read his facial expressions or body language; Jeanty seemed thrilled that the star edge rusher was coming back, and he seemingly thinks the locker room is too.
Ideally, this offseason has set the gears of success in motion for the Silver and Black. It will take time to get there, but having that belief in the building is the first step, and based on a few off-the-cuff remarks from Jeanty during his recent YouTube live stream, it seems like step two could be looming.