The Las Vegas Raiders enter the 2024 NFL season with question marks on both sides of the ball, but none bigger than the one at the most important position in the sport.
After failing to add to their quarterbacks room in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Raiders are set to roll with either Gardner Minshew, a free-agent signing, or Aidan O'Connell, both of whom will compete for the starting job during training camp.
Partly because of their quarterback situation, Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine placed the Raiders at No. 23 on the list, although he is higher on the situation than most.
The Las Vegas Raiders didn't wind up getting their quarterback of the future in the 2024 draft. In the short term, that might not be as bad as some think. They signed Gardner Minshew II, and he'll compete with Aidan O'Connell for the starting job.
This is a good time to remind everyone that the Colts were in the middle of the league in most offensive metrics with Minshew, and they didn't have Davante Adams.
Minshew is a great bridge option who finished 13th in total QBR while throwing to Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs and not much else. He'll be getting an upgrade in weaponry with Adams, newly drafted tight end Brock Bowers, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and Michael Mayer. The weapons are there for the Raiders to be a credible offense throughout the season.
The fact of the matter is, Minshew nearly led the Colts to the playoffs last season and will now see an upgrade in his pass-catching weapons in 2024, so there's reasons for optimism that he could turn out to be better than most expect.
O'Connell showed some promise in his first season and thanks to his now having experience, he may be able to take a step in the right direction in his second campaign, assuming he wins the starting job.
As far as the rest of the offense is concerned, the jury is still out on the running backs room. Zamir White has a very limited sample size and Alexander Mattison is coming off a disappointing season.
The tight ends room should be solid with Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, but the offensive line has some question marks with right tackle and at least one guard spot being among them.
The Raiders figure to roll with a rookie at one of those guard spots in Jackson Powers-Johnson, and while he should be a solid player at the next level, there's no telling how he'll be in Year 1. Thayer Munford is the favorite at right tackle, but the jury is still very much out on him after a lackluster second season.
The best unit on offense by far is the wide receivers room, which has one of the better one-two punches in the NFL at the top of the depth chart in Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers.
That said, even the wide receivers room has question marks behind those three. The Raiders need one of Tre Tucker, Jalen Guyton or Michael Gallup to step up into the No. 3 role, but none of them are locks to do so effectively.
The good news there is the Raiders have to effective pass-catching tight ends in Bowers and Mayer, so seeing one of those three step up isn't necessarily dire.
An argument can be made for the Raiders' offense to be higher on Ballentine's list, but the ranking is fair overall.
This unit has the potential to be good, and if that comes to fruition, the Raiders have a great chance to be playoff bound if their defense, which should be the better side of the football, holds up its end of the bargain.
