The Las Vegas Raiders have some serious work to do coming out of the bye week. They'll face a hungry Jacksonville Jaguars team in Week 9 and cannot afford to be blown out again in a season where they've already suffered losses of 17, 31 and 34 points.
Las Vegas had plenty of issues to evaluate during the bye week after its embarrassing Week 7 performance against the Kansas City Chiefs. Raider Nation may not have all the answers, but they know that change is needed in some capacity.
After the devastating loss, head coach Pete Carroll took the podium last Monday and hinted at the fact that the team would have more roster competition. However, based on what he said, it is clear that Geno Smith's job is still somehow safe.
Geno Smith remains exempt from Pete Carroll's hint at Raiders roster competition
Smith was taken out of the game for the first time in 2025 against the Chiefs, as Kenny Pickett took the final five offensive snaps. Despite Smith's continued poor performance, it doesn't sound like Carroll is keen on making changes just yet.
Carroll was asked, generally, about roster competitions during the bye week, and he didn't make it sound like the quarterback job was up for grabs.
"The competition is on, and we're not through thinking that way about opportunities for guys," Carroll said. "I thought it was right to get [Geno] out, and Kenny needs to get some snaps. Right off the bat, he screwed it up and missed the freaking first snap, but he just needs the play time in case we need to call on him, so he feels comfortable jumping in."
Saying that Pickett needs snaps "in case" they need to call on him is much, much different from saying he'll be competing for a job during the bye week. It sounds like, as expected, Pickett has no real chance to take the reins from Smith outside of an injury.
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Fortunately, Carroll did mention one rookie that could see an increase in playing time, much to the pleasure of Raider Nation.
"Darien (Porter), I'm always looking for chances to get him out there, to get him playing, so that's good, and we'll continue to do that," Carroll said. "There's guys up front on the offensive line and on the defensive line that we would love to get some play time too. We just stuck a couple guys in there just to get a couple snaps at the end. They just need to be on the field, so we're going to continue to push that way."
While fans were glad to hear this, they can't help but feel like his comments and his actions are far apart. Porter has played less than 25% of the defensive snaps this season, Charles Grant has played just one offensive snap, and Caleb Rogers has yet to be active on gameday.
Fans have been hoping to see these third-round picks take the field, but the head coach has stuck with Kyu Blu Kelly and Stone Forsythe, both of whom have been awful, but fortunately, have a history with Carroll.
While Smith has also been awful, the Raiders may not have a better option under center, and it appears that he has plenty of leeway due to his past success under Carroll. Las Vegas should, however, embrace a youth movement elsewhere on the roster by allowing its rookies to develop.