We did it y’all, we made it through the 2025 Las Vegas Raiders season!
Well, I guess we have one more game to get through with the Week 18 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. But it seems like none of you care about that—and rightfully so, since it’s basically a preseason game—which means we’re continuing to focus on the offseason and 2026 NFL draft
in this week’s mailbag column. Let’s get to it!Q: No matter if there’s a coaching change or not, will Maxx Crosby be moved from the Raiders?
A: I’ve made my stance known on what I think the Raiders should do, and that’s the unpopular position of trading Crosby for as many high draft picks as possible. But, of course, what they will do is another story.
Mark Davis has been pretty adamant about not trading Crosby in recent years, at one point emailing ESPN to tell them Maxx isn’t going anywhere and to stop talking about it, LOL! That makes sense from the owner’s perspective since Crosby is the team’s most popular and marketable player, on top of what he brings to the field and locker room. So, if it’s up to Davis and assuming that the recent decision to shut the defensive end down hasn’t caused a rift between him and the organization, then I think he’ll remain in Las Vegas.
However, The Athletic’s Mike Silver reported that Tom Brady “is being treated by owner Mark Davis as the de facto boss when it comes to football matters”. That could change things where Brady, who hasn’t been around long enough to have an attachment to Crosby, is the one who gets to decide on the Pro Bowler’s future in Las Vegas.
To me, there are enough signs that point toward Crosby getting dealt, making me lean in that direction. I can’t say I have a strong take on what will happen, but that’s what my gut is saying right now.
Q: I believe the Raiders need more picks in the first 3 rounds of the upcoming draft. To accomplish that, would you trade down in the draft or trade Maxx Crosby to get those additional picks? I get a feeling Crosby’s days as a Raider may be coming to an end.
A: Both of these have been commonly asked questions over the last few weeks, see the question above and below, and understandably given the situation the Raiders are in.
I 100 percent agree that the Raiders could use more picks in the first three rounds. To accomplish that, if I’m calling the shots, the move is to draft Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall to get a long-term answer at quarterback and trade Crosby to help fill out the rest of the roster. To be clear, I’m not saying trade Maxx just to trade him; it’d have to be a first-round pick and then some to make the deal.
Hypothetically, if Las Vegas got the same compensation it gave up for Davante Adams a few years ago—first- and second-round picks—for Crosby, the organization would head into April with five Top 100 picks and three fourth-rounders to help build out the rest of the roster. Also, if the Raiders complete the tank this weekend, one of those fourth-round picks will be No. 101, so it’s basically six Top 100 selections.
That, on top of adding just under $30.8 million of cap space (per Over The Cap) by trading Crosby, is a good amount of resources to improve the offensive line, build out the foundation of the defense and help find Crosby’s replacement. It’d suck to lose a guy like him, but it might be a necessary evil.
A: Here’s the problem with this line of thinking: the team that is desperate for a quarterback is the Las Vegas Raiders!
As soon as the Raiders pick up the phone to shop the No. 1 pick, they’ll lose leverage because they’re telling a team like the Jets that they aren’t that interested in this year’s quarterbacks. So, they’re not going to get the same haul the Bears got.
Justin Fields was entering his third year/make-or-break season in Chicago when the trade with Carolina happened, meaning the organization wasn’t in a state of quarterback desperation. Las Vegas doesn’t have that, and it’s contradictory to say that this year’s quarterback class is weak but still expect the Raiders to get a massive haul for the No. 1 pick.
Q: If the Raiders keep Carroll (I truly hope not), can he and this subpar staff develop a Top 2 QB and the rest of the draft class? They didn’t show any love to the 2025 class, and Carroll’s sons don’t seem able to develop young guys.
A: I really wouldn’t trust this year’s staff with a young quarterback. In fact, I might hop the fence and join the trade the No. 1 overall pick banwagon if Carroll and Co. get retained, LOL! After a disastrous season, Davis and Brady have to clean house and get rid of the entire coaching staff. It’s time to really lean into the rebuild and start fresh.
A: Retain a head coach who will be 75 years old in September, while the team is clearly rebuilding, and after he just had one of the worst seasons in franchise history and refused to give young players playing time until he was forced to. That can happen as early as after the game on Sunday and as late as next Wednesday morning.
A: I think it’s pretty much a forgone conclusion that Mendoza is heading to the NFL. He already has a degree from Cal, just won the Heisman Trophy, has a chance at winning the National Championship and is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in April. Plus, he meets all the experience requirements/thresholds that teams look or hope for in quarterback prospects, like starts, wins and dropbacks. So, there really isn’t anything left for him to do or prove in college.
Dante Moore is an interesting case, though. He has much less experience, with just a season and a half worth of starts and fewer than 700 career dropbacks. Granted, he’ll surpass the latter after Oregon’s next game. He’s also pretty young, turning just 21 years old in May, while Mendoza will be 23 in October. Reportedly, Moore’s youth has weighed on his mind when it comes to making the jump to the NFL and being a young rookie quarterback.
So, is the lure of being a, at worst, Top 3 pick enough to get Moore to declare? I think if offensive coordinator Will Stein (who will be Kentucky’s head coach next season) were returning to Eugene, there’d be even more reason for Moore to stay in school.
Also, when Moore transferred from UCLA to Oregon, he knew he was going to spend a season behind Dillon Gabriel and understood that it was best for him. In other words, this is a young man who is mature enough to understand his shortcomings and has already made a decision to set aside immediate gratification with the bigger picture in mind. Long story short, it’s not a guarantee that Moore will declare.
A: Mendoza was pretty good last year with an inferior supporting cast at Cal. Also, over the last two years, part of what makes Indiana’s success under Curt Cignetti so impressive is that the Hoosiers are doing it with a bunch of players that the big programs, like Alabama, passed on. A good portion of Indiana’s contributors are guys that Cignetti brought with him from JMU.
To put it in perspective, NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board has six Oregon players besides Moore who are currently projected to get drafted in the first two rounds. Indiana has one other than Mendoza, and it’s JMU transfer receiver Elijah Sarratt, who is projected to go in the second. So, we can make the same statement about the other top QB’s supporting cast, and it’s the same deal with next year’s class.
Any quarterback who gets drafted No. 1 overall is going to have to figure out handle pressure and adverse situations, both on and off the field. But I’ll take my chances on the guy who has the highest PFF passing grade under pressure (73.6) among Power 4 quarterbacks and has been poised in big moments all season.
Finally, I’ll flip this question around. Would you pass on Joe Burrow because he played on one of the most stacked teams in College Football history with LSU’s 2019 National Championship squad?
Q: If these big-time Offensive coaches get fired, who would you prefer if the Raiders were go down a retread route? Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Zach Taylor or Matt Lafleur (I know it’s probably not happening with LaFleur)?
A: LaFleur, but as you said, I don’t think he’s getting canned.
I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not big on the retreads; however, I can get on board with Stefanski. He’s different than a typical retread, winning Coach of the Year twice (2020, 2023) by leading the Browns to the playoffs with Baker Mayfield and then the combination of Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Jeff Driskey, P.J. Walker and Joe Flacco at quarterback. Cleveland just can’t get out of its own way when it comes to that position, leading to the fall off over the last two years.
Plus, Stefanski will only be 44 years old next season. If fired, he might be my top choice, even with the retread label. I think he’s a good coach who has been screwed by a terrible front office and owner.
For the record, I’ll pass on McDaniel and Taylor. To me, McDaniel falls into the great coordinator, bad head coach category, and Taylor’s success has been driven by the talent the Bengals have had, especially offensively.
A: Grant has always been a high upside prospect. He showed impressive athleticism and strength at the FCS level to be a top 100 pick, but his technique was all over the place. So, I definitely think his potential is pretty high. Now, your second question is where the situation gets more complicated, and why it was so frustrating that this coaching staff wouldn’t put him on the field.
Offensive tackle is still an offseason need and if the opportunity is there to get a young player in the draft or free agency, preferably the former, then John Spytek should take it. It’d be a good problem to have if the Raiders wind up with three offensive tackles who can play between Grant, an offseason addition and Kolton Miller. That would leave the door open to potentially flip one of them—probably Miller, in that scenario—for 2027 draft capital or another player to fill a different need.
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.
