Getty Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce.
Nothing is going right for the Las Vegas Raiders this season. It started with starting defensive end Malcolm Koonce suffering a season-ending injury before the season and it has only gotten worse from there.
The latest blow is to star defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. He was forced to leave the Week 5 game against the Denver Broncos early and didn’t return. Well, it appears the injury was serious. According to an October 8 X post from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, underwent surgery for a Jones Fracture in his foot and is out indefinitely.
Now, it doesn’t sound like he’s completely ruled out for the season quite yet but he’s been placed on Injured Reserve, which means he can’t play for at least four games. He’s the third Week 1 defensive starter to hit the Injured Reserve for the Raiders. Linebacker Luke Masterson wasn’t a Week 1 starter but he has started games and is also on Injured Reserve.
The Raiders gave Wilkins a $110 million contract in free agency and he appeared like he was living up to contract. He had 2.0 sacks and was playing very well in the middle of the defensive line. Las Vegas is in serious trouble as long as he’s out.
Nightmare Season for Raiders
It’s only five games in and this season is already a nightmare for the Raiders. Not only are they 2-3 with two blowout losses in the last three games, but players are dropping like flies. That’s not to mention that star wide receiver Davante Adams requested a trade last week.
It seemed like head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco would bring some stability to the franchise but the opposite has been true. Nothing is going right for Las Vegas. The Raiders have some high-end talent but are riddled with injuries right now. The depth on this roster was never good so losing so many starting-level players is a recipe for disaster.
What’s Next for Raiders?
At a certain point, this could become a lost season for the Raiders. It’s difficult for great teams to overcome this many injuries and nobody would accuse the Raiders of having a great team. That said, it’s still early in the season. Las Vegas can still turn things around.
The problem is that they just don’t have a good quarterback. They don’t even know who’s going to start next week after Gardner Minshew had a horrific day against the Broncos. Pierce is facing a very tough test in his first year as a full-time head coach.
It’s going to be difficult for the Raiders to fully evaluate him with how depleted the roster is. The team needs to face the fact that they aren’t winning anything until they get a good quarterback on the roster. It was foolish to think Minshew or Aidan O’Connell were going to be good enough to lead this team to wins.
Even if the Raiders can get hot and go on a winning streak, they have a limited ceiling. The team should’ve been all-in on getting a rookie quarterback going back to last year so they can’t afford to keep kicking the can down the road.
