The Las Vegas Raiders fielded one of the worst offenses in the NFL last season as they ranked 29th in scoring offense and 27th in total yards. Their struggles led to a 4-13 finish, as only three teams in the league had a worse record.
John Spytek and Pete Carroll, the newly-hired brass in Las Vegas, focused on improving the group this offseason. They brought on the highly regarded Chip Kelly to serve as offensive coordinator, which should be a massive upgrade from Luke Getsy, who started last season as the playcaller.
Las Vegas made one of its biggest upgrades at quarterback as the team traded for Geno Smith to replace the trio of Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell and Desmond Ridder. They continued to focus on the offense in the draft as they selected Ashton Jeanty sixth overall.
NFL analyst shares lofty prediction for Raiders offense
This addition alone should dramatically improve a rushing attack that finished dead last in yards. All in all, seven of Las Vegas' 11 draft picks were used on offensive players. An NFL analyst even suggested that the unit has the potential to be the most improved offense in the league this year.
That analyst was Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus, who recently discussed the unit's upside heading into the 2025 NFL season.
"I think the vibe, as it always is with Pete Carroll around, is it should be positive, especially on the offensive side of the ball, where you're talking about this team, you could argue, could be the most improved offense in football considering where they were last year which was basically just the Brock Bowers show," Wasserman said. "You were second-to-last in the NFL in passing grade. You bring in Geno Smith, who's been eighth in the league in passing grade over the last three years and the best deep thrower in the league. That was one problem is that (the) Raiders quarterbacks, the last couple (of) years, (they) couldn't stretch the field vertically. They were dead last in the league in rushing grade last year. I don't believe anybody had more than 500 rushing yards, maybe 600, and now you have Ashton Jeanty, who, to me, is the best running back prospect we've seen in the last couple years. ... 99.9 rushing grade during three years at Boise State. Perfect."
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Wasserman claimed the Raiders were the one offense whose running backs were the problem, adding that the offensive line was actually productive. He noted that adding the rookie wide receiver duo of Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton Jr. -- along with Chip Kelly's playcalling -- will make the offense fun to watch.
While Las Vegas struggled tremendously on offense last season, there were some positives. They were one of just two teams with multiple 1,000-yard pass catchers as the duo of Bowers and Jakobi Meyers both cleared that mark.
Adding competent quarterback play and a running game should open the field for both players and change the dynamic of this football team completely.