Well, it didn’t take a shiny crystal ball to see that Luke Getsy would be a victim of the “bye week” moo or that the Las Vegas Raiders would stand pat at Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Raiders are 2-7, and we tried to look ahead before the players and coaches return from their break and play the Miami Dolphins next week.
Here are five predictions for the second half — and beyond — of the Raiders’ season.
1. Jack Jones will top last season’s two pick sixes
Jones was the star of training camp but has been a little disappointing this season. He was even benched for questionable tackling effort at one point. But he has good cover skills and looks to be more aggressive with the Raiders sitting at 2-7.
Jones jumped a route Sunday and picked off Joe Burrow, returning the interception 30 yards for the score. He now has four career interceptions returned for a touchdown, tied for the fourth most in NFL history among players in their first four NFL seasons.
Jack at it again!#LVvsCIN | 📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/LG88zwar8l
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 3, 2024
Jones told reporters last month that he thought quarterbacks were avoiding him, but coach Antonio Pierce — who coached Jones in high school and college — disagreed.
“No, he’s getting opportunities,” Pierce said last week. “I mean, I don’t know if corners want to be thrown at 10 times. That’s not a good sign either, then they figure you’re the fish, right? So, I think Jack just needs to keep doing his job, playing with good leverage. He did a much better job of tackling effort over the last couple weeks, and just continue when the plays are there to make, go ahead and make them.”
2. Zamir White will lead the Raiders in rushing the rest of the season
This is a hotter take than you might think considering White has 22 yards on 11 carries in the last three games. But the Raiders fired offensive line coach James Cregg this week, and the thinking is that they’ll move away from the wide zone blocking scheme that has been a bad fit for White.
White averaged 4.3 yards a carry when he replaced the injured Josh Jacobs last season, but he lost his starting job this year to Alexander Mattison. Mattison has had some good flashes but lacks patience at times and has been especially ineffective near the goal line.
“We’ve got to get Zamir going,” Pierce said. “I mean … last year we saw a lot of positive stuff from Zamir and (we’ve) seen a little bit of it earlier in this season. I think he’s just got to get out of the funk as well. I know those fumbles early on really got to him, then he had the injury, but it’s always good when we got him going downhill.”
Silver & Black strike first! (again)#LVvsCIN | 📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/IOw5yGEpbf
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 3, 2024
3. When healthy, Aidan O’Connell will take over at quarterback
The Raiders benched Gardner Minshew II for O’Connell in Week 6, but the veteran got back on the field in Week 7 when O’Connell suffered a broken thumb in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Rams. O’Connell has to miss two more games before he can be activated from IR, so the earliest he could come back would be the Week 13 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Black Friday. That would be on the earlier side of his expected four- to six-week recovery timeline, but it’s possible he could be ready to go then.
Desmond Ridder replaced Minshew on Sunday, and the educated guess is that he will start Week 11 in Miami. Minshew leads the NFL with 12 turnovers, hasn’t been able to push the ball downfield and has had sporadic accuracy. He often holds the ball too long, which leads to unnecessary pressures and sacks. At 28 years old, he likely is who he is at this point in his career.
O’Connell is 26, so he’s no spring chicken, but he’s only in his second season and has just 12 starts under his belt. Theoretically, he could still improve. He’s better at protecting the football than Minshew, gets rid of the ball more quickly and does a nice job of keeping the offense on schedule. When he’s healthy, the Raiders might as well go back to him and see if he can show some progress.
4. The Raiders will finish with a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft
The Raiders aren’t intentionally tanking, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a bad team. There are a lot of bad teams in the NFL this season — 10 other teams have three or fewer wins — so the Raiders will have some competition for draft positioning, but we have them finishing at 4-13 in this scenario.
The Raiders don’t seem to have a long-term answer at quarterback, and the options in free agency next offseason are far from alluring. That leaves the draft as their best path to landing one. They could trade up for one if need be depending on where they land, but this roster has many more issues besides quarterback and the resources needed to move up could be allocated elsewhere. It may be tough for the fan base to hear, but the best thing for the Raiders’ future outlook is losing this season.
5. Antonio Pierce will make it to Year 2 as head coach
As the Raiders’ season has gone off the rails, speculation about Pierce’s job security has intensified. His in-game decision-making has been heavily criticized, and the coaching staff hasn’t been able to find any consistent success. But owner Mark Davis isn’t itching to make his third coaching change in three years. He hoped the Raiders would be more competitive, but he knew Pierce was inexperienced and would endure growing pains.
“He’s young as a head coach. He’s learning how to be a head coach,” Davis said last month. “He’s surrounded himself with a lot of good people. He’s just got to grow into the job. It’s his first year, really. What he did last year was phenomenal. … We’ll be OK.”
Pierce maintains a strong hold on the locker room. Two of his most ardent supporters during his nine-game tenure as interim coach last season — Davante Adams (publicly at least) and Josh Jacobs — play for other teams now, but defensive end Maxx Crosby and many other players who were on the team last year remain.
Also, the Raiders have been battered by injuries. Four starters are on injured reserve — O’Connell, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, defensive end Malcolm Koonce and safety Marcus Epps — and multiple others have missed significant time. This was already a thin roster, and they don’t have the depth to account for those absences.
Davis is trying to be patient with Pierce. He still wants to see improvement this year — as evidenced by the recent firings — but it would take a disastrous finish to the season for Pierce to get canned after Year 1.
