The Las Vegas Raiders, in head coach Antonio Pierce’s first full season in the role, enter the 2024 season simultaneously in the midst of a bit of a rebuild while also trying to close the gap on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West.
After passing on selecting a quarterback early in this year’s draft, the Raiders will likely turn to journeyman veteran Gardner Minshew to lead an offense that’s headlined by All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams, wunderkind rookie tight end Brock Bowers, and emerging star Jakobi Meyers at receiver.
But, as one top NFL analyst points out, the key to the Raiders’ prospects of making a playoff push in 2024 hinges on a defense led by All-Pro and Defensive Player of The Year candidate Maxx Crosby.
If there’s any room for optimism in Vegas about the Raiders making a postseason run this fall, Crosby and the defense could be the catalysts.
Last season, the Raiders finished 15th in total defense, but despite finishing middle of the road, Pro Football Focus’ Dalton Wasserman lists the defense as Las Vegas’ biggest reason for optimism this season.
Wasserman went so far as to call the Raiders’ defense “The most underrated in the NFL,” in his breakdown of all 32 teams’ situations for the 2024 campaign.
“Fortunes changed immediately for the Raiders last season,” Wasserman writes for PFF. “When Antonio Pierce took over as the head coach. He knew his first task, of course, was to fix a defense that posted the fourth-worst EPA allowed per play through the team’s first eight games. Pierce commandeered an immediate turnaround that was, at times, startling to watch.
“From Weeks 9 through 18, Las Vegas’ defense ranked ninth in overall grade, fourth in run-defense grade and fifth in EPA allowed per play. Maxx Crosby is perennially great, but major contributions from Malcolm Koonce, Jack Jones and Robert Spillane, among others, gave the Raiders new life on defense. There is hope the team can compete for a playoff spot this season despite a questionable quarterback situation.”
Las Vegas is going to need significantly more consistently dominant play from its defense if the Raiders are going to prove to be any sort of threat in a conference that includes the Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, and others, among legitimate Super Bowl threats.
Adding dynamic interior pass-rusher and run-stuffer Christian Wilkins alongside Crosby has the potential to be a potent foundation.
But, with an offense filled with as many question marks and uncertainties as the Raiders’, it is easy to pin the hopes on a group headlined by a player as dominant as Crosby and the rest of the defense has the potential to be.
