The Las Vegas Raiders have been hard at work this offseason trying to improve from last year's pitiful four-win mark. Owner Mark Davis cleaned house once again, which spurred a series of major changes for the Silver and Black ahead of the 2025 season.
General manager John Spytek is now in charge of the team's personnel, and head coach Pete Carroll has been tasked with rebuilding the team's culture and developing the young talent. Carroll is also reunited with quarterback Geno Smith, who he shared success with during his Seahawks tenure.
Running back Ashton Jeanty should also be able to revive the team's league-worst rushing attack from 2024. While all these improvements, in a vaccuum, are reason enough to be excited, it is precisely how the pieces blend together that should give Raider Nation playoff hopes in 2025.
Raiders' playoff hopes hinge on Geno Smith-Pete Carroll relationship
Carroll is not just a great coach, and Smith is not just a great quarterback. They are the perfect pairing, and they are a massive upgrade over what the Raiders had last season, which should dramatically even the playing field.
In an AFC West division with coaches like Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton, as well as quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix, there is little-to-no margin for error. Trotting out Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell was a mistake in 2024, but that will not be the case this season.
Head coach and quarterback are the two most important positions in the NFL, and the synergy that these two can create will always matter more than improvements at any other position. Carroll and Smith went 18-16 together across two seasons in Seattle, making the playoffs one time.
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Smith also went to back-to-back Pro Bowls and won the 2022 NFL Comeback Player of the Year award under Carroll's watch, but he was unable to replicate that success in 2024 with Mike MacDonald at the helm in Seattle.
This should tell Raider Nation exactly what they suspected all along, which is that the whole of Carroll and Smith is even greater than the sum of its parts. Being on the same page will be paramount to the team's success this season, and Carroll and Smith already speak the same language from spending years together.
While this roster is far from perfect and certainly lacks experience in several positions, there is no doubt that this duo should be able to rise up and elevate the team around them. Clawing their way through the AFC West will be no easy task, but they have a fighting chance with this tandem in Las Vegas.