How does the secondary compare?
Once again, although considered relatively average in the league, the Raiders find themselves with the 10th-best unit in the AFC and the third-best in their own division. I know there are a bunch of teams ahead of the Silver and Black with superstars in their secondary, so I understand why they are ranked ahead, but it is still frustrating to see the team so low considering last year’s performance.
Both the Chiefs (9th) and Broncos (15th) are ahead of the Raiders as it pertains to the division with only the Chargers (20th) trailing. For some reason, even though the Chargers have stars like Derwin James and Asante Samuel Jr. to pair with Alohi Gilman, they are last in the division.
Instead, the Broncos are ahead of both the Raiders and Chargers with only Patrick Surtain II to boast. I recognize that he is one of the premier, top-tier corners in the league, but they lost Justin Simmons this offseason and replaced him with Brandon Jones, who is an average safety. It begs multiple questions, one of which is: how do the Broncos plan on covering all of the Raiders' and Chiefs' weapons?
I understand the power of having one of the league’s top guys, but defense is unlike offense. If you have a star running back or wide receiver, you can attempt to force-feed them the ball every time and they can have a ton of success that benefits the team. But if you have a star corner that is head and shoulders above the rest of the guys at his position, teams will just gameplan away from you and exploit the weaker links.
Surtain may be able to hold his own against most WR1s, but most offenses are equipped with great secondary receivers like Jakobi Meyers or Hollywood Brown, to name a few key examples. My concern with the Denver secondary is their versatility and ability to have quality starters at all five positions, so I struggle to see how they clear the Raiders secondary in these rankings.