It would be an understatement to claim that the Las Vegas Raiders were awful during the 2025 NFL season. The team was significantly worse than their 3-14 record indicated, which included a stretch of 14 losses in 15 games, sandwiched between Week 1 and Week 18 wins.
The Raiders, who ranked last in scoring offense and 25th in scoring defense, had holes throughout their roster. But John Spytek did a magnificent job of upgrading the depth chart in both free agency and during all seven rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft.
His work has put Las Vegas in a far better position than other teams in recent years who have selected first overall. Despite all of Spytek's work, however, the Raiders continue to get overlooked on both sides of the ball. They were slotted in way too low in these post-draft power rankings.
The Las Vegas Raiders may actually be underrated for once
While fans may be riding high after a strong offseason, the Raiders clearly have plenty to prove on the field if they want respect after being awful for the better part of the last two decades. That much goes without saying to anyone who has paid attention to the franchise during that stretch.
Still, the roster isn't as bad as some may be suggesting. Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport listed Las Vegas as the league's eighth-worst defense in his post-draft rankings, despite acknowledging the improvements that the team has made.
"(Maxx) Crosby will have a new batterymate on the edge this year in Kwity Paye, who signed with the Raiders in free agency. The linebacker corps was completely remodeled with the additions of Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean. The Raiders also signed one of the league's better slot cornerbacks in Taron Johnson and added two more defensive backs in the draft in Treydan Stukes (Round 2) and Jermod McCoy (Round 4). McCoy was a first-round talent who fell to Day 3 due to concerns about his surgically repaired knee. If he can emerge as a solid starter at a position where the Raiders badly need one, Vegas will be headed in the right direction defensively."
While Las Vegas fielded exactly the eighth-worst scoring defense in 2025, the unit actually ranked 14th in total yards allowed. They weren't good by any means, but a lot of the points that they allowed were due to the offense putting them in bad spots with turnovers and quick three-and-outs.
Furthermore, the top producers from last year's defense will all return, while Spytek has done a great job of replacing the biggest weaknesses. In fact, all three levels should see a significant uptick in production, which makes it difficult to believe the group will remain a bottom-eight unit.
Meanwhile, Davenport's colleague, Brad Gagnon, rated the Raiders offense as the league's seventh-worst unit.
"Reason(s) for Optimism: (Tyler) Linderbaum represents a huge upgrade in a key spot as they prepare to embark on the (Fernando) Mendoza era. They're also deeper now at the skill positions, and running back Ashton Jeanty should have a good shot at taking off in his sophomore season as part of Klint Kubiak's exciting new offense. Reason(s) for Pessimism: This is another example of a lot of change in a lot of spots potentially leading to growing pains. This was the worst offense in the NFL last season and it'll take time to get into a groove. All of the pieces are in place—we haven't even mentioned Kolton Miller's return from a shoulder injury and the presence of two super-talented young tight ends—but 2026 might be about working through the kinks."
Las Vegas' offense was the bigger weakness in 2025. While most of the team struggled, the offensive line and quarterback play were downright atrocious, as was the play calling. Kubiak should help alleviate the latter issue, as he has proven to be among the league's top young offensive minds.
Spytek's biggest splash of free agency, Linderbaum, was brought in to help fix the first issue. Furthermore, the return of Miller, along with Jackson Powers-Johnson, should help, arguably, the league's worst position room take a major step forward in 2026.
While it had been obvious for months that the Raiders would use the No. 1 overall pick to select Mendoza, Las Vegas' general manager was not content with having to throw the rookie into the fire right away. He wanted a contingency plan if Mendoza wasn't ready.
So, he brought in Kirk Cousins, a proven veteran and four-time Pro Bowler, who earned two of those nods alongside Kubiak in Minnesota, to serve as the bridge quarterback.
After tearing his Achilles tendon in 2023, the soon-to-be 38-year-old is not the same quarterback he was during that time. He did, however, lead the Atlanta Falcons to a 5-3 record in eight starts last season once he was more than a year removed from the injury.
None of this is to say that the Raiders will go from worst to first in a tough AFC West. The idea that they won't be much better on both sides of the ball, however, shows that Spytek isn't getting the respect he deserves for his strong offseason.
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