The Las Vegas Raiders made several ill-advised decisions this offseason under the guidance of new head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek. The proof has been in the pudding during the 2025 NFL season, as the team is a disaster again, sitting at 2-5 after their bye week.
Spending big on Geno Smith was an obvious miscalculation, and letting players like Robert Spillane, Divine Deablo and K'Lavon Chaisson walk have all come back to bite them. The team bargain shopped on defense instead of re-signing these players, and they're getting what they paid for.
But even though the Las Vegas defense hasn't exactly impressed this season, not every player they let go has backfired on them. In fact, Raider Nation raked Spytek over the coals for not re-signing Nate Hobbs, but he's been anything but successful with the Green Bay Packers this year.
John Spytek may have been right to not re-sign Nate Hobbs
Hobbs was an excellent cornerback for the Raiders during his four-year stint with the team. However, he never played a full season due to injury, so Spytek and the Las Vegas front office were apprehensive about signing him to a big-money, multi-year deal.
Green Bay swooped in with a four-year, $48 million offer, and that was the last of Hobbs in the Silver and Black. His replacement, Darnay Holmes, hasn't been spectacular this season for the Raiders, but at least he doesn't come with a $12 million annual price tag.
After missing Week 1 due to an injury, Hobbs was very quickly thrust into a prominent role on a strong Packers defense. The results were fairly mixed, but he was definitely producing more bad than good in Green Bay.
On Sunday Night Football in Week 8, things came to a screeching halt for the former Raiders star. After playing 100% of the Packers' defense snaps in the previous two games, Hobbs was benched against the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing just four downs for Green Bay.
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To make matters worse, his replacement, Carrington Valentine, played incredibly well in his place, and several reporters indicated that perhaps Valentine should have been playing over Hobbs the entire time. Head coach Matt LaFleur also said they'll now have an open competition for the position.
In fairness to Hobbs, Green Bay has him primarily playing out wide, where he struggled in Las Vegas as well, instead of in the slot, where he thrives. Still, his overall Pro Football Focus grade of 59.6 ranks in the lower half of cornerbacks, and his 54.4 coverage grade is firmly in the bottom third.
As expected, Hobbs is still among the best corners in the league at defending the run. But he's apparently given up far too much in the passing game for the Packers to blindly stick him out there, which is a dramatic fall from grace after a big payday this offseason.
The Raiders obviously made several poor decisions this offseason, both signing the wrong players and letting the right ones walk. But it seems like not re-signing Hobbs, which fans, including us, swore would fail, is a gamble that Spytek may have already cashed in on.