Las Vegas Raiders
Someone will have to talk to me like I am six and tell me why people are so high on the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2025 NFL Season. Now yes, Pete Carroll was a great hire at head coach - he's a proven winner and is going to be a great short-term solution for this team.
However, the roster still kind of stinks; the defense has holes everywhere, and now Christian Wilkins is all of a sudden out of the picture. the team also traded a third-round pick for Geno Smith, and that right there kind of tells you how much the Seattle Seahawks valued Smith - good quarterbacks don't get traded for a third-round pick, folks...
The team used their first-round pick on Ashton Jeanty, and in hindsight, you have to wonder if Vegas would go a different route. The offense also features Brock Bowers, so they wil be able to move the ball down the field, but the Raiders are bad where it matters the most - the trenches. It's going to be an uphill battle in the deep AFC West for Vegas in 2025.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers won 11 games and made the playoffs in 2024, which was a great turnaround from their five-win season back in 2023. It's clear that Jim Harbaugh is the right head coach for the team, and the roster is solid overall, but it does truly feel like the Denver Broncos overtook them this offseason with the amount of talent they added.
And one of LA's key additions, Najee Harris, has an interesting eye injury and is currently not on the field. The offensive line could use another starter in the interior, and the defense doesn't really scream at you. There could also be a small concern with Justin Herbert - how high is his ceiling? In two playoff appearances, the Chargers have gotten blown out.
LA should still be competitive in 2025 and may even sneak into the playoffs, but them again winning 11 games feels unlikely, as it seems like it'll really take a massive offseason for them to get into contention. The Chargers may end up disappointing in the 2025 NFL Season.