These five NFL teams will head into the 2022 season with high expectations from fans, but can they actually live up to them?
Every NFL team is undefeated in July, which means fans have every right to be brimming with optimism and hope for the upcoming 2022 season.
Anything can happen, right?
With NFL free agency, the NFL Draft, and OTAs in the books, we now have training camp and football season to look forward to. Things will start moving rather quickly here in July, which means there is only so much time left for optimism to be at an all-time high for respective fan bases.
Unfortunately, those expectations are bound to be shattered for a variety of NFL fan bases. Some fan bases may have more realistic expectations than others at this point, although I’ve never been a “pessimism is realism” sort of person.
Different teams could fail to live up to expectations for varying reasons, of course, but I’m going to pick five teams that just aren’t as good as people think they will be for the 2022 NFL season.
Disappointing NFL team no. 5: Las Vegas Raiders
Let’s do our best to make friends as quickly as possible, shall we?
Nobody in the NFL is going to have higher expectations for their team in 2022 than the faithful of Raider Nation.
Well, there may be some contenders (looking at you, Chiefs fans and Cowboys fans), but the offseason brings forth the utmost confidence in Raiders fans, who have plenty of reasons to be confident, to be honest.
The team added superstar wide receiver Davante Adams.
They gave new contracts to quarterback Derek Carr and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow.
They added Chandler Jones in free agency.
They got Josh McDaniels to actually leave New England.
There are many reasons why the Las Vegas Raiders could be good this season, not the least of which is the fact that they actually made the playoffs last year despite all of the turmoil the team endured.
So why will Raiders fans be disappointed in 2022?
First and foremost, are we just supposed to assume this time is going to be different with Josh McDaniels as a head coach?
Second, even with the acquisition of Davante Adams, one thing can’t be disputed — the Raiders may have one of the three worst offensive lines in the NFL.
Third, the Las Vegas defensive backfield was bad last year, and the only real upgrades they got in 2022 were aged veteran Duron Harmon and Rock Ya-Sin.
Maybe everything will come together for Josh McDaniels this time around. Maybe Derek Carr and Davante Adams will be able to rekindle the chemistry they had a decade ago at Fresno State.
Maybe the offensive line will be better than it looks on paper.
Maybe the secondary will pick off more than six passes. Yes, that was their real total from 2021.
The Raiders have a lot going for them, don’t get me wrong. I just see this team, in a loaded division within a loaded conference, failing to live up to the lofty expectations that come with adding players like Davante Adams and Chandler Jones.