The last time that the Las Vegas Raiders won a playoff game was back in 2002. In fact, the franchise was still in Oakland, and they went to the Super Bowl that year. Talk about ancient history. They've only been to the playoffs twice since, and only five times have they had a record in the vicinity of .500.
Over that 20-plus year stretch, the Raiders have had a top-five overall pick in the NFL Draft just six times. If that seems unbelievable, given their unbelievably poor overall record over that span, it absolutely is. The team has simply hovered in mediocrity or worse. Bad, but not bad enough.
With moves to shut down starters heading into Week 17, despite apparent protests from players and the head coach, the Raiders have secured no worse than the No. 2 overall pick in next April's draft. They also have three feasible routes to the No. 1 selection in 2026.
We won't mention who the Raiders made the first overall pick when they last had it in 2007, since his name is basically a curse word in franchise vernacular. But let's just say that whoever Las Vegas lands near the top of the board, he can't be much worse than that guy.
Raiders beat writer nails why the 2025 season was the best thing possible
Being a Raiders fan isn't for the faint of heart. It takes a serious level of belief, and perhaps delusion, that things will eventually get better. That is, of course, mixed with a heavy dose of annual frustration over all the ways it didn't, in fact, get better during a given season.
But sitting in the high-end of the worst teams, often winning just enough games to take themselves out of the highest-possible draft pick and a potential franchise-altering player, is a special level of hopeless. From 2019-2023, the Raiders won between six and 10 games each season. That's bad.
On a recent episode of the Raider Nation Morning Tailgate podcast, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal hit the nail on the head regarding why the 2025 season was actually one of the best things that could've happened to the franchise.
“In the whole scheme of things, if we’re being straight up honest, it’s the best thing that could have happened to this organization. Getting a top two pick and getting a quarterback.
"Nobody on this roster is the long-term answer at quarterback. The Raiders need a quarterback. We’ve been saying that for years. They’ve been on the outside looking in in the draft. They’ve won meaningless games down the stretch in previous seasons that knocked them out of contention for one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. In the whole scheme of things, as painful as this season has been, and it’s probably going to cost people jobs, it’s literally the best thing that could have happened. Only because of now, you’re in position (to draft a quarterback)… and I think that’s going to be a game changer for this franchise.”
RELATED: Raiders draft picks dropping like flies as Dolphins poach rookie quarterback
Pete Carroll was hired to put the Raiders' latest attempt at a rebuild on a fast track. Things went the other way dramatically and rather quickly, with Carroll's miscalculations in a lead role. The biggest of which was the acquisition of yet another Band-Aid veteran quarterback in Geno Smith.
The complete bottoming out this season in Las Vegas was the best thing that could've happened to the Raiders, even if it was not anywhere near the original intent. Sometimes, good or bad, things just work out how they're supposed to.
They never really do for the Silver and Black, but if the organization can utilize the No. 1 or No. 2 pick next April to land an actual franchise quarterback, or at least something remotely close to it, then this season won't be all for naught. It may actually be the one that changed everything.