Between the Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 7 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL trade deadline creeping up, we have a lot to go over for this week’s mailbag. So, let’s get to it!
Q: Are the Raiders
sellers at the trade deadline? If so, who might be leaving?
A: The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore said that it depends on the next two games and the Raiders aren’t in a hurry to make a move. My take is that if they lose this weekend to the Chiefs, they’ll use the bye week to at least shop players and a deal or deals get done before the Jaguars game on Nov. 2. I don’t have much confidence in Las Vegas pulling off the upset in Kansas City, so I think the Raiders will be sellers.
Jakobi Meyers is the player most likely to get traded, considering he’s already asked for one, is in a contract year and has been the subject of trade rumors recently. After that, I could see Tyree Wilson or Malcolm Koonce getting dealt (probably just one and not both, though), with Zamir White, Chris Smith II and Tommy Eichenberg being on the trade block. However, I don’t think they’d get much for the last three; they just aren’t getting much playing time and were brought in by previous regimes.
Q: Looking back, is there a player from the 2025 draft’s first round that you think would have had a bigger impact on this team’s success than Ashton Jeanty so far? I’m scared to think of what this offense would look like without him.
A: For starters, I think Jeanty is playing well, and I’m certainly not disappointed with what I’ve seen from him so far. But I would have liked to see the Raiders get Armand Membou, given how the offensive line has had issues this season, and Membou has been playing well for the Jets.
The only other rookie who comes to mind that could help the offense and potentially be more impactful than Jeanty is Emeka Egbuka. However, that’s a complete hindsight take since Egbuka wasn’t considered a top 10 prospect. Also, the Buccaneers’ situation is better than the Raiders’, so I don’t think Egbuka would have the same success in Las Vegas that he’s having in Tampa Bay.
Q: Will Jeanty or Cam Skattebo be having a better season (statistically speaking–total TDs, total YRDs, avg rushing YRDs) by the time the Raiders face off against the Giants on Dec 28? Which team’s offensive line is worse–New York Giants or Las Vegas Raiders?
A: I think Jeanty will have better numbers because he’ll get more carries with the Raiders than Skattebo will with the Giants, since New York has more depth at running back than Las Vegas does.
Granted, the Giants’ offensive line is definitely better, especially with Kolton Miller out. They have a good amount of talent up front with Andrew Thomas, Jermaine Eluemunor, Jon Runyan, John Michael Schmitz and Greg Van Roten has been solid in New York. Meanwhile, the Raiders’ o-line is a lot younger and the interior is still getting situated after the reshuffling from last season.
Q: As general manager, with Geno Smith playing so poorly, could John Spytek insist that Pete Carroll start Kenny Pickett?
A: That definitely can happen, and it’s not uncommon for a general manager to push a head coach to make a quarterback change and for them to butt heads about it. Typically, that’s when a young draft pick is behind a veteran, though, and I don’t think Spytek’s intent with Pickett is to make him the long-term solution at quarterback.
However, if Smith plays poorly against the Chiefs and continues to have turnover issues, I could see Spytek stepping in and telling Carroll they need to make a change during the bye week. I don’t know how much good that will do, since I don’t think Pickett is the long-term answer either. Also, he will be a free agent in the offseason. So, even if he plays well, there’s no guarantee he’d be back in Las Vegas anyway.
But it would at least give Pickett a chance to prove himself and send a message to the locker room that it doesn’t matter how much money you make, what the organization gave up for you or how well you’ve played in the past; if you don’t perform to expectations, you will get benched. That’s big when it comes to establishing a culture, and the message is loud when it involves the most important position on the field.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Raiders firing Chip and replacing him with Greg Olson if our offense looks terrible against Kansas City this week? If Geno looks bad, they can go with Kenny Pickett to start after the bye week. It just seems that Carroll and Chip aren’t on the same page.
A: I’d be very surprised if Kelly gets the Luke Getsy treatment and is fired half a season into the job. I also don’t think the offensive coordinator is the Raiders’ biggest problem; the quarterback is. So, if Carroll is going to make a change behind center, I don’t see the point in also firing the play caller after seven games. To me, it makes more sense to remove one variable at a time to get to the root of the issue.
Q: Would Spytek have had any say about moving the O-line around and installing Jordan Meredith at Center?
A: I don’t know for certain, but Spytek definitely could have (and should have) a say in that. He’s the one on the hook for putting together the best roster possible, and what position guys are playing is a big factor in that.
If you’ve been following me this season, you know where I stand when it comes to the coaching staff mixing up the interior offensive line. However, I will say that size-wise, Meredith fits the profile of a center more than a guard, and vice versa for Jackson Powers-Johnson. So, I can understand why Spytek, Carroll and Chip Kelly wanted those two to switch positions. I just wouldn’t have made the change since they played well last year at their previous spots.
Q: With Meredith having trouble snapping the ball in shotgun and Geno having to look up after a bad snap, could that be part of Geno’s problems with not seeing the field and throwing interceptions? Wouldn’t it be better to stay under center – both for the running game and the passing attack, especially play action?
A: Maybe I’m off-base, but I don’t feel like Meredith has had that many bad snaps. He’s not perfect by any means, but I wouldn’t say the snaps have been an issue.
Regardless, that’s not an excuse for Geno struggling to read the field and throwing interceptions. He’s a 13-year veteran who has taken plenty of shotgun snaps throughout his career, even going back to his college days in West Virginia’s spread offense. Handling bad snaps is part of the deal, and I’d expect an experienced quarterback to at least not make game-changing mistakes when the snap isn’t perfect.
All of that being said, I do agree with you about running the ball and using play action under center. Smith has been good with a heavy dose of play action, and that should be a sticking point for Kelly moving forward.
A: For context, Pro Football Focus has Geno’s average time to throw (TTT) at 2.89 seconds, which is the 14th-highest among the 39 qualifying quarterbacks. His career average is 2.88 seconds, so it’s about normal for him. As far as the offensive coordinator getting the ball out of the quarterback’s hands faster, Smith’s TTT has been 2.74, 2.45 and 2.66 seconds in each of the last three games, respectively.
I thought Kelly did a good job of tweaking his play calling to give Smith some easier reads last week by using a lot of play-action and bootlegs. We’ll see if that continues on Sunday.
A: It’s a few factors with Charles Grant. His technique is a big work in progress, and his play strength needs to improve, on top of making a major jump in competition from the FCS to the NFL. Personally, I always felt like this was going to be a “redshirt” year for Grant, but I am very intrigued by his potential.
As for Caleb Rogers, I’m probably not the best person to answer your question because I wasn’t a big fan of the Raiders using a third-round pick on him. He’s versatile, having played so many positions at Texas Tech, but is more of a valuable backup who has the flexibility to fill in at a few spots if someone goes down, rather than being a bonafied starter, in my opinion.
If I had to pinpoint one reason Rogers hasn’t seen the field yet, it’s that he played a lot more tackle than guard in college (over 4,000 snaps versus 300, per PFF), so it might be taking him more time to get adjusted to being a full-time guard.
Q: Every year it’s the same old song and dance, look how many different players and coaches the Raiders have had over the past 20 years and nothing changes. Don’t you think it has to be ownership that needs to change?
A: I’ve mentioned in the past that Mark Davis should be held accountable for how many coaches and general managers he’s churned through since taking over the organization. I like that he’s hands-off and doesn’t meddle, basically just hiring people and letting them do their jobs. But, at the same time, Davis is admitting that he’s hiring the wrong people by firing them, so maybe it’s the decision-maker that’s the problem…
All of that being said, it’s Davis’ team, and the owner isn’t going to fire himself. So, I don’t know how that’s going to change.
Q: Might/should the Raiders sign C.J. Gardner-Johnson? He could be insurance against IPM not improving. No safeties were drafted this year or high picks on the roster from past years. He’s 27 years old with much more experience than McCollum.
A: I’d stay away from Gardner-Johnson. Texans’ beat reporter Aaron Wilson reported that there was “friction” between the defensive back and Houston’s coaching staff over his role on the defense, leading to his release. Then, the Ravens parted ways with him a week after signing him to the practice squad. To me, he’s not good enough to justify taking on a potential headache.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.
