Las Vegas Raiders facing tough decisions down the stretch of the 2023 NFL season
The Las Vegas Raiders will need to win out to have any chance at the playoffs this season, but is it better for them to set up for the 2024 NFL Draft?
By Brad Weiss
After beating both the New York Giants and Jets in back-to-back weeks, it looked like the 2023 NFL season was starting to point upward for the Las Vegas Raiders. The wins had gotten them back to .500 under interim head coach Antonio Pierce, and with two huge AFC games on the horizon, they had a legitimate shot to get themselves back into the playoff picture in the conference.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, they ended up going into the bye week off back-to-back losses to the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs, and faced a must-win game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14. Playing at home out of the bye week, the Raiders had a legitimate chance to turn their season around, but were embarrassed by a 3-0 loss to a team that had to turn to Nick Mullens down the stretch.
Now, sitting at 5-8, the Raiders are at a crossroads for their 2023 NFL season, as they can win out and hopefully get help to make the playoffs, or start looking towards next season. While that could be an easy decision for some teams, the Raiders still have a lot to play for, but team owner Mark Davis is also at a fork in the road in terms of this roster.
Here, we look at what could happen to the Raiders down the stretch, as they could go either way across the last four games of the season.