The Las Vegas Raiders' 2025 campaign was nothing short of a disaster.
After hiring Pete Carroll in the offseason, the Raiders put together a 3-14 campaign, with the only silver lining being the team landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Carroll proved to be a terrible hire for what the Raiders needed. He was clearly not intent on giving young players a chance thanks to his delusional belief the Raiders could make a run at being competitive in 2025. Now, Carroll is unemployed.
But Carroll isn't even close to the only reason the Raiders failed. General manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady should also shoulder some blame for making a hire that didn't make sense to begin with, and for some of the roster decisions that were made.
The Raiders made a lot of bad decisions this past season, but Logan Ulrich of NFL Trade Rumors believes two roster moves in particular were the worst in the entire league: the trade for Geno Smith and the draft selection of Ashton Jeanty.
We completely agree with Ulrich on the Smith trade.
Sure, the Raiders were looking for an upgrade at quarterback, but they also gave up draft capital to trade for him, which was a terrible decision for a rebuilding team.
The result was Smith having a bad season, and while some will place blame on the Raiders' offensive line struggles, which is valid, the veteran signal-caller made some of the worst decisions with the football you will ever see.
We'd be shocked if Smith is back in 2026.
The draft selection for Jeanty is a mixed bag. It wasn't a great decision, but we also wouldn't consider it one of the worst of the entire year.
On one end of the spectrum, the rookie played well despite a mess of an offense around him that clearly held Jeanty back. He no doubt looks the part of a star running back and we believe the future is bright for the Boise State product, assuming the Raiders can get their act together around him.
On the other end, the Raiders had no business drafting a running back that early when there were so many needs up and down the roster. Taking a blue-chip prospect at a more important position should have been the play there.
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