Raiders Opinion: At The Crossroads

As the turbulent 2021-22 NFL season continues with the Las Vegas Raiders informing General Manager Mike Mayock that he would not be retained, the Raiders face their biggest fork in the road yet. Currently, the Raiders do not have a general manager or head coach. Plus, the team offers no current commitment to keep Derek Carr past the 2022-23 season, This sets up a massively decisive pivot year.

Choices

Going forward, the Raiders options are clear: repeat or rebuild. The team can either prioritize win-now signings or blow everything up and attempt to trade older players. Not to mention, this builds around their young core. With the Raiders making the playoffs this year, it may be difficult for many to grasp the idea of rebuilding. However, after a recent history of unimpressive draft picks and coaching hires, Mark Davis could have the opinion that it would just be easier to start from scratch.

Renovation Pitfall

The difficulty with starting a rebuild after a playoff run is the position of the Raiders’ initial draft pick. Normally, teams want to begin building around an early first-round star, but the Raiders will be drafting 22^nd this year and have finally exhausted their picks received from Dallas and Chicago. In the event of a true rebuild, the upcoming season could be used as a “prove it” year for many players nearing potential extensions or releases after the team makes trades in an attempt to acquire future drafter picks, which is a relatively promising way to build a core.

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Early Burden

Regardless, the direction of the team will be placed on the shoulders of the head coach, whether it be Bisaccia, Harbaugh, Flores, or others. The (new) coach could very quickly foreshadow the route the team will take based on their affinity to Carr, a decision that could come quickly after the coach’s signing. While letting Carr walk or holdout does not completely signify a rebuild, it would certainly push the team closer to clearinghouse. Bringing in a new quarterback would take time. With the Raiders playoff window closing, it could make more sense to shut the window and tear things down completely.

Silver And Black Lining

As things stand, there is still room for positive changes to occur. Win-now coaches and players can still sign. Also, with the promise and fight the Raiders showed in 2021, momentum points to sticking things out. The team could look into extending Carr’s contract. The Carr extension frightens some but calms others. He has shown his ability to get a team to the playoffs while entering a potential quarterback carousel currently seems foolish. Las Vegas strangely has yet to roll the dice and attempt to maximize the Raiders’ potential by trading picks and acquiring a superstar or two, and 2022 could be one of their last chances for some time.