As Las Vegas continues to navigate its head coach and general manager searches, the Raiders might offer a more compelling situation than the surface level would suggest.
The Raiders are coming off a 4-13 finish in the 2024 season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2021. But, Las Vegas offers the flexibility to reshape its fortunes rapidly overnight.
Pro Football Focus ranked all 32 NFL teams by offseason assets. The Raiders check in as the No. 2 team in the NFL in terms of the means to get better.
PFF put its rankings together by combining draft capital, effective cap space and restructuring potential. While the Raiders don’t offer much in the way of restructuring potential, that’s due in part to what Las Vegas offers in terms of effective cap space.
Effective cap space is the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster. The Raiders are projected to have the second-most effective cap space during the 2025 NFL offseason, trailing only the New England Patriots.
Las Vegas is projected to have $85,762,761 in effective cap space this offseason.
The Raiders currently own eight selections in the 2025 NFL draft but they are expected to receive a pair of compensatory picks as well. Of the Raiders’ current eight picks, four will come within the draft’s first three rounds. That includes the No. 6 overall pick.
According to PFF, the Raiders possess the third-best 2025 NFL draft capital.
Drafting a potential franchise quarterback seems like an obvious direction for Las Vegas and its new head coach and GM to head in during this 2025 NFL draft. Sitting at No. 6 overall, the Raiders might just find that franchise signal-caller.
There is an outside chance that Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders or Miami quarterback Cam Ward could slip to No. 6. Or, maybe the Raiders can package some of their picks and swing a deal to move up and land one of the two.
If the Raiders can’t land Sanders or Ward, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe or Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart could be options at No. 6. Las Vegas could also opt to fill one of its other team needs and wait to select another quarterback it likes at the top of the second round instead.
With four selections in the draft’s first two days and one of the largest effective cap situations, the Raiders’ new head coach and GM can really hit the ground running and shape their roster vision quickly. That becomes especially true if the Raiders successfully find their quarterback of the future in this 2025 NFL draft.
The opportunities that the draft and free agency could provide the Raiders’ next head coach-GM tandem in Las Vegas could be attractive to a rising young name like Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Las Vegas just found one of the league’s bright young stars in tight end Brock Bowers. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Georgia alum rewrote the NFL’s rookie tight end record books after hauling in 112 grabs for 1,194 yards with five scores.
Defensively, the Raiders still have one of the NFL’s finest edge talents in defensive end Maxx Crosby.
Those existing pieces and the ability to quickly add to and mold what’s already in place could be one of the more alluring NFL landing spots.