LAS VEGAS — The first full season of the Antonio Pierce era commences Sunday, as the Raiders head to Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium to take on the Chargers.
It’s a year full of uncertainty for the Raiders. There’s plenty of questions and concerns, but there’s also a significant sense of optimism around the culture that Pierce has instilled.
After a season and a half of Josh McDaniels attempting to turn the organization into the Jr. Patriots, it was a genuine relief to many to see Pierce bring back the feeling of Raiders football.
However, the honeymoon phase is ending for Pierce. The interim tag is gone and he’s a few days away from his first major test as the head man for one of football’s cornerstone franchises.
"I really like his approach as a coach," defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. "He puts a lot on us as players to really take the steering wheel, really. And I appreciate that.
"He kind of sets the culture, sets the standard, and he holds himself to a higher standard and all the other coaches as well. But as a player, he's definitely easy to get behind because he's the same dude every day and he brings it every day."
Now, what else is there?
.500 or better?
If you were to poll every relevant NFL pundit on their opinion of where the Raiders end up this season, you would get some pretty varied answers.
The Raiders have a fine roster, headlined arguably their best defensive unit in the last decade-plus. They have uncharacteristic depth at the skill positions with Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers as well as Zamir White, Ameer Abdullah, and Alexander Mattison.
The quarterback position is less stable, where the Raiders are rolling out popular journeyman Gardner Minshew after he won a close quarterback competition with Aidan O’Connell.
"I have a lot of confidence in all the guys across the board," Minshew said "I mean, I feel like you look out there and if it's one-on-one, you got to feel good with any of our guys.
"That's the belief I put in them, and I'm going to trust them to go make plays for us. And I think that's kind of the bedrock of our offense, is trusting everybody do their job and to win their one-on-one."
Despite the uncertainty at quarterback, the Raiders have a favorable schedule that gives them a somewhat hopeful outlook at a wild card berth.
According to Pro Football Network, they only have the 23rd hardest schedule in the league. On top of this, their home schedule is far less loaded than their road schedule. This will hopefully set the Raiders fans up for some enjoyable Sundays at Allegiant Stadium this season.
Maxx Crosby DPOY candidacy
For a few years now, it’s felt like an inevitability that Maxx Crosby would win the Defensive Player of the Year at some point in his career.
With another star defensive end joining the fold in Watkins, this season gives Maxx Crosby a special opportunity to add that award to his mantle. Wilkins’ presence on the defensive front will reduce the amount of attention Crosby receives in opposing game plans, which is a frightening sacrifice for any defensive coordinator to make.
Crosby is coming off a career high and league leading 14.5 sacks last season, and has the third best odds to win the award on Caesars at +700.
If he were to win the award, he would join Lester Hayes (1980) and Khalil Mack (2016) as the third Raider to do so.
Quarterback conundrum
Back to the quarterbacks. Of course, it was Minshew who narrowly beat out O’Connell to be named the Raiders’ starter.
The decision was a surprise to some, as O’Connell had a better overall performance in the preseason finale, despite a costly interception that was returned for a touchdown. Pierce was adamant that mistake didn’t decide it, but Minshew was named the starter the next morning nonetheless.
Minshew is coming off the second best season of his NFL career in 2023, which was really only the second season of his four season-career in which he saw regular action. Minshew had a serviceable 3,509 yards, but also finished with a less than impressive 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Will Minshew start all 17 games for the Raiders? He’s never started all 17 games in his career. In fact he’s never started more than 14, so that probably wouldn’t be a great bet to make.
One thing in Minshew’s favor: He's entering the season as the starter for the first time in his career.