SI gives promising bold prediction about Raiders' 2024 season

There's not a lot of buzz surrounding the Las Vegas Raiders this season from the national media. The team went 8-9 last season and didn't do much to upgrade their quarterback room.

However, head coach Antonio Pierce has revitalized the franchise from an energy standpoint and he's surrounded himself with a very good coaching staff. Some believe that the Raiders are the worst team in the AFC West but not Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr.

In a list of 100 predictions for the 2024 season, Orr predicted that the Raiders will not finish last in the AFC West, and assistant head coach Marvin Lewis could be looking at a promotion soon.

"Surprisingly scrappy but without a defined answer at quarterback, this team will be fun, inconsistent and decidedly old school," Orr wrote. "As a subprediction, assistant head coach Marvin Lewis will reenergize his candidacy for both head coaching jobs and general manager jobs, for which I had always thought he’d be wonderfully suited."

Orr also predicted Jim Harbaugh to win Coach of the Year so it's likely that he believes the Raiders will finish third place in the AFC West. Regardless, he did have kind things to say about the team, and what he said about Lewis was very interesting.

Lewis had a 131-122 record with the Bengals when he was their head coach. Despite the sustained success, he hasn't been considered for other head coaching jobs. Perhaps he doesn't want to be a head coach again and is happy with his position. Regardless, he's a person to watch if the Raiders have a good season.

Based on Orr's prediction, it sounds like he doesn't expect the Broncos to be any good. People are overvaluing Sean Payton. He might have the worst roster in the NFL and a rookie quarterback. I can't imagine this is a team that can win more than five games this season. The Chiefs are still the top dogs but the Raiders should compete with the Chargers for second place in the AFC West.