The Las Vegas Raiders will look completely different next year than the team that finished 3-14 in 2025. They have already fired Pete Carroll, and they seem to have landed on Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak as their next head coach, a coveted leader in this coaching cycle.
Geno Smith, who was brought in because of Carroll, figures to follow the former head coach out the door at the start of the league year. Fortunately, a clear replacement for him is available, as Las Vegas holds the No. 1 overall pick in April, where the consensus is that they will select Fernando Mendoza.
The rest of the roster, however, remains a mystery, as the franchise has very few players who appear to be clear-cut starters next season. One thing was made clear last year, however: Isaiah Pola-Mao, who started all 17 games for the Raiders, should not be back in 2026, at least in the same capacity.
Raiders' path to move on from Isaiah Pola-Mao is quite simple
Pola-Mao was a great story for the Raiders in 2024. The undrafted free agent spent the first two years of his career mostly contributing on special teams before an injury to Marcus Epps opened the door for him to make 14 starts. He played well enough that the new brass gave him a two-year extension.
That resulted in him making 17 starts in 2025. Unfortunately, his play does not warrant him returning for the final year of that contract. Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine listed Pola-Mao as one of three potential cap casualties in Las Vegas, along with Smith and Alex Cappa.
"Isaiah Pola-Mao has been a fun story from the Raiders. Going from undrafted free agent to earning a two-year, $7.5 million contract last offseason was an admirable ascent," Ballentine wrote. "Unfortunately, Pola-Mao had a difficult season in 2025, and he hasn't built up goodwill from the new coaching staff. He gave up six touchdowns in coverage this season and allowed a 120.7 passer rating when targeted."
Now, it should be noted that Carroll had Pola-Mao playing a bit out of position. Perhaps with a new defensive mind in the building, Pola-Mao could perform much better in more of a box safety role, where he thrived in 2024.
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However, the Raiders would save $4.1 million by moving on from Pola-Mao, which is a small but not insignificant amount. According to Over The Cap, the team would take on a dead cap hit of just $750,000, making it very easy to move on from the veteran safety.
While his counting stats -- 92 total tackles, four tackles for loss, two interceptions, and four passes defended -- were not terrible, they do not paint the full picture of just how much Pola-Mao struggled in 2025.
In addition to the numbers mentioned by Ballentine, Pola-Mao also allowed 582 passing yards on 38 completions, while missing 17 tackles -- a 15.6% missed tackle rate. It's not like Las Vegas' defense was great as a whole, but Pola-Mao had his share of individual faults.
His 1,081 defensive snaps played were the second-most on the roster; however, it was clear early in the season that Pola-Mao did not deserve his starting role. He finished the year with a 39.8 grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked 97th out of the NFL's 98 qualified safeties.
While his fellow safety, Jeremy Chinn, made a case to be extended this offseason, the same cannot be said for Pola-Mao. Instead, Las Vegas' front office should cut its losses and use the cap savings to invest in a more productive player, especially if the new head coach sees no use for him.