The Las Vegas Raiders' 2023 season was on life support before the team fired head coach Josh McDaniels. But once Antonio Pierce took over, the team saw a big turnaround, going 5-4 over the final nine games.
Despite that and the fact that the Raiders are returning much of the same team, plus a few upgrades, USA TODAY's Nate Davis has Las Vegas taking a step back in 2024.
Davis predicts that the Raiders will go 6-11 and finish in third place in the AFC West. Here's what he wrote:
Las Vegas Raiders (6-11): They’ve got some nice players in premium spots – DE Maxx Crosby, LT Kolton Miller, first-round TE Brock Bowers, Wilkins and WR Davante Adams … as long as he’s around – and a new coach in Antonio Pierce who galvanized this group during his nine-game interim stint last season. But questions abound otherwise, notably regarding Adams’ future and at quarterback, where Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O’Connell seem to be vying for a bridge role to an unknown successor.
When it comes to the rest of the division, Davis has the Kansas City Chiefs posting two more wins en route to winning the AFC West once again. He predicts the Los Angeles Chargers will finish at 9-8 and in second place, and the Denver Broncos bringing up the rear at 4-13.
Making the 2023 second-half run under Pierce more impressive was the fact that Las Vegas had a rookie quarterback under center. Granted, the position is a question mark once again in 2024, but there should be optimism, too.
No matter who wins the starting job, whether that be Aidan O'Connell or Gardner Minshew, either one should be better than the rookie version of O'Connell, who was thrown into the fire in his first season.
When you combine that with the fact that the Raiders have a great shot to have a top-10 defense, it's very much conceivable that Las Vegas will finish right around the 8-9 mark the team posted in 2023.
On the bright side of Davis' prediction, Las Vegas will be in a better spot than they were in 2024 to land one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL Draft.
