Returning Raider Nation’s questions for the week.
The 2025 season will be here before you know it. The Las Vegas Raiders’ rookies report to training camp next Thursday, and the veterans will join them five days later. So, the countdown to camp is officially on, but first, we have this week’s mailbag to get to!
Q: Will the Raiders finally go and get a veteran safety or cornerback to complement the existing roster? Much needed!
A: Mike Hilton is still available, I’m just sayin’!
In all seriousness, the fact that we haven’t even heard about anyone coming to Las Vegas for a workout during the down period and that training camp is less than a week away, I think the Raiders are going to roll with the roster they have.
It wouldn’t surprise me if someone gets signed during camp or the front office looks to add a defensive back after cutdown day next month. However, I wouldn’t expect to see any moves before the team reports.
Q: Considering that Chip Kelly’s Eagles took over for a 4-12 team, and went 10-6 the following year. Would you say that the Raiders’ 2025 offense is better or worse on paper than the 2013 Eagles?
A: Player for player, that Eagles offense had a little more talent. They had LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson in their primes, on top of a good tight end duo with Brent Celek and rookie Zach Ertz. On the offensive line, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson were starting to ascend in the league, while Jason Peters had been an All-Pro, and Evan Mathis ended up being a first-team All-Pro that year.
However, I do think the Raiders’ quarterback situation heading into the season is better than the ‘13 Eagles’. Mike Vick was at the end of his career and eventually got benched for Nick Foles, who played well that year but was a “no-name” going into the campaign. Also, Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers can surpass their Philadelphia counterparts in this comparison.
So, I think there’s potential for the Raiders’ offense to be pretty good, or at least much better, this fall, and Kelly having some history excuting a quick turnaround helps provide more optimism.
Q: Several beat writers listed Jordan Meredith’s minicamp position as backup center behind Jackson Powers-Johnson. Is this to give him experience at his 2nd position? Do you think he gets a chance at starting left guard? Same beat writers listed Parham 1st team and Thayer Munford 2nd team at left guard.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
A: I think there’s some truth to the coaching staff wanting to cross-train Meredith so they have a backup interior offensive lineman who can play all three positions, if he isn’t starting. Also, he has some experience playing center, as he got some run there during the 2023 preseason, and the spot behind JPJ is very much up for grabs this summer.
That being said, I do think Meredith still has a chance to win the starting job at left guard. Parham is definitely the favorite heading into camp, but it will be a competition. Munford could factor into the mix, too, since he was reportedly taking reps at guard during OTAs and minicamp.
Still, I’d expect Meredith to be the guy the coaching staff turns to if any of the interior linemen go down this season, assuming he isn’t starting.
Q: What excites the coaching staff about Isaiah Pola-Mao? Did he improve his tackling, play in the box and in man coverage compared to 2023?
A: Versatility is one of Pola-Mao’s strengths, as he got a good amount of experience playing both safety spots last season and can contribute on special teams. His run defense did improve in 2024, earning a 72.4 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus.
Coverage-wise, I actually think Pola-Mao’s better as a deep safety rather than when playing man in the box. He struggled to match up with tight ends last year, and the majority of plays he makes in coverage are when he’s lined up at free safety.
To be honest, though, I might not be the best person to ask the question to. I have some concerns about Pola-Mao being a starting safety this year. It’s not that I think he can’t do it; I’m not just 100 percent sold on him right now.
Q: Do Elandon Roberts and Germaine Pratt play the same position? How will E-Rob handle not getting starting snaps anymore after being told he would be the starter all of OTAs?
A: Roberts and Pratt have similar skill sets as they’re both good run defenders, but they can play different positions.
Roberts is best on the strong side, where he can attack downhill more often. Pratt is decent at that, but he can move laterally better than Roberts can, so Pratt could be more like the weakside backer. So, they can complement each other against the run; it’s just still a mystery what the defense will do when it comes to a coverage linebacker.
I can’t speak for Roberts, but I don’t think he’d have much of an issue being more of a role player. He was doing that with the Steelers over the last two years, so I’d be surprised if the 10-year veteran would have an issue with that role at this stage in his career.
Q: Why are people so down on Aidan O’Connell? Could he be the Raiders’ long-term answer after Geno Smith?
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
A: To me, O’Connell has a lot of average traits, especially when it comes to arm strength, and struggles with consistency. That points to him being more of a backup throughout his career.
Also, I think him not being able to beat out Gardner Minshew last year made a lot of people turn on the idea that O’Connell can be the future franchise quarterback. While some may argue he should have been the starter from the jump, the fact that he didn’t win that job decisively was a red flag.
Part of the problem with AOC being the long-term solution after Smith is that his contract expires before Smith’s does. So, the Raiders would have to give O’Connell a second contract to keep him around without seeing him play much over the next two years, unless something happens to Geno. I’d have a hard time seeing a head coach and general manager who didn’t draft the quarterback doing that.
A: The ceiling for Ashton Jeanty is winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, and the floor is being a sub-1,000-yard rusher this season. He’s going to be the lead running back and get plenty of touches to put up big numbers, but the offensive line is a question mark that could impact his production, as is his adjustment from the Mountain West to the NFL.
For Jack Bech, the ceiling is becoming a starting receiver and a 600- to 800-yard guy, and the floor is riding the bench. I was a little surprised to hear he wasn’t taking many reps with the ones during the spring practices, and it sounds like the coaching staff might be easing him along more than we previously thought. That said, Bech does have the traits to be an immediate contributor if he lives up to expectations.
Dont’e Thornton is the biggest wild card of this year’s draft class to me. After he was drafted, I wasn’t expecting him to see the field much as a rookie. However, it sounds like he might be ahead of schedule since he was getting reps with the first-team offense this spring. So, I’d say his ceiling is becoming the team’s third-leading receiver, and his floor is contributing solely on special teams this year.
Jah Joyner is the undrafted free agent I’m going to bet on to make the team. He’s a good/natural pass-rusher, and the defense could use an edge rusher off the bench. I’ll be interested to see how he looks compared to Charles Snowden this summer.
A: The offensive line is the biggest factor because when Smith doesn’t have time, he can get into trouble by starting to play hero ball, which leads to a lot of his mistakes/interceptions. A similar statement can be true about him in the red zone, which is where the offensive coordinator comes into play.
In my opinion, Smith is better in the scoring area when he’s given more bootlegs and/or one-read throws that are schemed open rather than full-field reads. With the latter, he tends to force throws when his first read isn’t open, and that resulted in some bad picks last year.
I also think getting the running game going will be good for Geno, like it is with most quarterbacks. Seattle struggled to do that during his last two years with the Seahawks, ranking 28th in the league during both campaigns. Obviously, that’s tied to the offensive line, too.
A: I’m a middleman, so I do think there’s some truth to both sides of the argument. Things like momentum definitely exist in sports, but I do think they get overblown as a superficial factor that impacts the game. It might alter a few plays here and there, but at the end of the day, the team with better players and coaches who execute more often is going to win the game.
Also, part of the analytics argument is that having more talent is what leads to the big plays that create “momentum”, rather than some sort of energy or flow of the game, if you will. That’s hard to counter because I think everyone can agree that a team with more playmakers and coaches to put those players in situations that fit their skill sets is going to win games more often than not. There might be a few exceptions now and again, but generally speaking, more talent leads to more wins.
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. Sign up and go to the comments section.