As the 2025 NFL season comes to a close, other teams around the league are fighting for playoff seeding and a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Not the Las Vegas Raiders, however. As usual, they are on the outside looking in, and they have been for quite a bit of time now.
But the Raiders do have something to play for when the New York Giants come to town in Week 17: the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Obviously, Week 18's games could reshuffle things, but for right now, the winner of this game will have the inside track to the coveted top selection.
While the Giants have been bad this season, they've been nowhere near as pitiful as Las Vegas. Plus, New York has its franchise quarterback, as well as a young stud running back, a No. 1 wideout and a great defensive line. They don't need the pick as badly as the Raiders do, and they'd likely trade it.
Raiders' future is hanging in the balance in Week 17 vs. Giants
That simple fact makes Sunday's contest against the Giants more important than any game the franchise has played in recent memory. Perhaps since the playoffs of the 2021 season, when Las Vegas took on the Cincinnati Bengals on Super Wild Card Weekend.
When looking at the current draft order and where things may stand from a strength of schedule perspective, the Raiders could drop back as far as No. 4 with a win. That would be a major issue with just one game to play.
As it stands, only two quarterbacks have been deemed worthy of a selection at the top of the board: Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Oregon's Dante Moore. Both the Browns and Jets could draft a quarterback, and falling behind them would basically mean no first-round signal-caller for Las Vegas.
There is also a chance that Moore stays in school for another year, which would make the Raiders' getting the top pick even more pressing. If a team like the Giants or Tennessee Titans, neither of whom needs a quarterback, is sitting at No. 1, another team will leapfrog Las Vegas for Mendoza.
The Raiders haven't taken a quarterback on Day 1 of the draft since 2007. There have been very few constants in the organization amid their two decades of brutal losing, but it feels obvious at this juncture to point to a lack of a promising young quarterback as the common thread.
Las Vegas, however, will have to get through a gauntlet of bad teams in the final two weeks if it wants a chance at a transformational signal-caller. The Giants are 2-13 and tanking, and the Kansas City Chiefs are starting a practice squad quarterback while placing several key players on Injured Reserve.
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To be fair, the Raiders have done the same thing. Maxx Crosby, Brock Bowers, Jeremy Chinn and Jordan Meredith all landed on IR this week. Kolton Miller is also not being activated, and both Jack Bech and Raheem Mostert are listed as questionable for Week 17.
Of course, the Giants have countered this by placing four key players on IR, including three starters, and ruling out starting tight end Theo Johnson, as well as a handful of other depth pieces. They have several other contributors listed as questionable.
Simply put, Sunday's matchup is going to be littered with backups and look a bit like a preseason game. However, the implications of the contest are absolutely massive, and a Las Vegas win could irreversibly set the organization back once again.
A meaningless win against the Giants could leave the Raiders without Mendoza or Moore, meaning things could stay the same in Las Vegas. Perhaps another year of Geno Smith and Pete Carroll, because no coach wants to lead a team without a franchise quarterback or a chance to get one.
If this time next year the team is bad once again, but is at least showing signs of life with a young signal-caller, that is completely okay. But another agonizing season in which Raider Nation is hopelessly trying to lose and finally land a game-changing quarterback would be too much to take.
For years and years, the Raiders have needed a rookie quarterback to give the fan base hope and turn the franchise around. Their chance at finally landing that player may very well hinge on 60 minutes of football this Sunday between two teams that don't seem intent on winning.