The Las Vegas Raiders were one of the worst teams in football last season, and they have been one of the most poorly run organizations in the NFL for the better part of two decades. The page is starting to turn, however, under the ownership of Mark Davis and Tom Brady.
This offseason saw bountiful changes throughout the organization, highlighted by the hirings of general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll. The two have spent the entire offseason tirelessly revamping the roster and tinkering with the pieces in the building.
Ahead of the 2025 NFL season, there is high optimism within Raider Nation. The fan base is not necessarily expecting success like they were at this time in previous years, but there is a faith that things are trending in the right direction for the next couple of seasons.
Raiders rank 27th in NFL Spin Zone's initial power rankings
As always, however, there is very little positivity surrounding the Raiders from outside of the fan base. Earlier this week, NFL Spin Zone's Sayre Bedinger released his initial power rankings for the 2025 season, and the Raiders came in at No. 27.
"Nobody upgraded their offense in the 2025 offseason more than the Las Vegas Raiders, and even the upgrades they made might not be enough," Bedinger wrote. "The Raiders went from Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell at the quarterback position to Geno Smith. They went from Alexander Mattison at running back to Ashton Jeanty. And at this point, they haven’t granted Jakobi Meyers his trade request. Pete Carroll is taking over the operation, and he’s going to need to get the most out of a cast of characters defensively that feels like a who’s who of recent draft busts and reclamation projects."
Las Vegas earned the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which effectively means they were the 27th-best team in the league last year. Despite all of the aforementioned improvements, however, the Raiders somehow do not move up in this power ranking.
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Yes, the defense looks a bit worse on paper, but the unit still has a stout defensive line, and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has always been able to keep this group afloat. Plus, Carroll is light-years ahead of where Antonio Pierce was as both a defensive schemer and situationally aware coach.
Chip Kelly and the offense should be able to sleepwalk into having a better unit than the Raiders had last year. There is a solid chance that this team has a top-12 offense, in which case, there is very little chance they'll be in the same spot in the league pecking order that they were in 2024.
Nobody is expecting Las Vegas to make a deep playoff run, and most are not thinking they'll make the postseason at all. But this football team, no matter how you slice it, is far better than last year and deserves a better spot in the power rankings.
Carroll and his squad are surely aware of how they are perceived by those around the league, and hopefully, they are using it as bulletin board material ahead of the season.