The Las Vegas Raiders have just two winning seasons in the last 20 years. Yes, you read that correctly. The once proud franchise that scared the heck out of opposing teams in the 1970s and 1980s has been a league doormat for the most part since they lost badly in Super Bowl XXXVII to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2002 season.
It all starts with the quarterback position and the Raiders had a decent one with Derek Carr for years, but that didn’t work out. So, the addition of former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith should be a nice infusion of stability to the offense. And, the experts are taking note.
Smith is “more than serviceable”
Brandon Austin of the Pro Football Network analyzed the outlook for Raiders for the 2025 season.
“At 34 years old, Smith is far from an elite quarterback at this stage of his career,” Austin writes. “Still, he’s proven to be more than serviceable, and he offers veteran leadership that the Raiders’ locker room desperately needs,” Austin said. “On the field, Smith’s arrival means the quarterback position should be noticeably better in 2025 than it was last season. Having stability at the most important position could be huge for Las Vegas’ rebuild. Smith’s familiarity with Carroll certainly doesn’t hurt either.”
“Las Vegas’ offense features a bright young star in tight end Brock Bowers. As a rookie, he led all TEs in receptions (112), receiving yards (1,194), and yards after catch (596). Outside of Bowers and veteran wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, the Raiders lack upside at the skill positions. The duo combined for 2,221 receiving yards, 58.4% of the team’s yards in 2024.”
Despite not being a big splash, Geno is a big addition
Tom Blair of NFL.com correctly notes that while acquiring Smith wasn’t a big headline grabber this NFL offseason, he’s a big step in the right direction.
“As far as big-ticket QB acquisitions go, this move might have lacked the zest of, say, landing Matthew Stafford. Smith is not going to instantly infuse a team with Super Bowl buzz. He’s not even a lock to finish 2025 as one of the top 10 players at his position. But is that so bad? Spring and summer hype have a way of crumbling in September; just ask the Jets fans who were celebrating what turned out to be the peak of the Aaron Rodgers era back in May of 2023,” Blair said.
“Smith brings something more appealing to the table, an element his new team has been without for too long: a high floor. In each of the past three seasons, he posted a passer rating of 92.1 or better, which no Raiders QB managed to do in that span. It feels fairly safe to predict Smith will be, well, safe in Vegas, where he’ll reunite with Pete Carroll (who first helped him reemerge as a viable NFL starter in Seattle) and be placed at the controls of a Chip Kelly offense fronted by tight end and stud rookie running back . Establishing early stability will be essential for the Carroll-John Spytek regime to start strong.”
The Raiders now have Tom Brady as a minority owner, a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Pete Carroll and a proven winner in the NFL at quarterback. It’s certainly a step in the right direction for a team that really needed it. And it’s not just a great direction for the Raiders, the NFL as a whole is better when they are relevant.
