The Las Vegas Raiders are a completely changed team under head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek. However, several of the team's problems remained the same heading into this season.
Starting left tackle Kolton Miller still needed a contract with guaranteed money for this season, as the previous regime was not able to strike a deal. Early reports in the offseason indicated that he was sitting out of the team's offseason program looking for a resolution.
Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins also needed to recover well from his broken foot to justify the franchise's $110 million investment they made in him last offseason. While he seemed to be on track at the end of the year, varying reports have indicated that he hit a snag in his recovery process.
Raiders only take one day of OTAs to provide clarity on 2 major storylines
Las Vegas had its first day of OTAs on Monday, and the media was allowed in the building for their second practice on Wednesday. This provided clarity on both of these crucial storylines heading into the 2025 season.
News 3 Las Vegas' Jesse Merrick confirmed that Miller was in attendance and participating in the team's practice on Wednesday. However, according to The Athletic's Tashan Reed, Wilkins was at practice but did not have his helmet on or participate in drills. Carroll provided an update on his progress after practice.
"This has been a difficult recovery," Carroll said. "He's not ready to get back out (there). We're in the midst of a long, challenging process here. Fortunately, there's a lot of time. We're going to take every bit of it. We're trying to be really diligent."
While this is not exactly the vote of confidence that Raider Nation would like, at least an update has now come directly from the source.
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As for the other happenings at OTAs, it appears that the defense won Wednesday's practice, and the offense won Monday's. The defense had several interceptions on Wednesday, as various reports confirmed that Jeremy Chinn, Tommy Eichenberg and Chris Smith II all intercepted Geno Smith. Lonnie Johnson Jr. also picked off Aidan O'Connell.
The offense did have several good moments, however, as reports indicated that Smith's deep ball looked to be in mid-season form. Rookie Dont'e Thornton beat Chinn for a deep touchdown, and Tre Tucker got behind the defense for a lengthy score as well. Brock Bowers had a highlight reel catch as well.
Carroll noted that defensive standouts from the day included Chinn, linebacker Elandon Roberts and cornerback Eric Stokes. While things are not expected to be anywhere near perfection at this point in the offseason, it seems like the team is getting plenty of great work done in the early going.
A mixture of strong plays from the offense and defense is right in the sweet spot for a team, as Raider Nation knows all-too-well what it looks like in the regular season when one side of the ball is not challenged in the offseason.