Now sitting at 2-7 after last Thursday night’s loss to the Denver Broncos, the playoff hopes for the Las Vegas Raiders have officially been dashed. One of the main culprits for their struggles has been the quarterback play, as Geno Smith has not delivered what the Raiders had hoped for when they traded for him.
As such, many are already looking ahead to the coming offseason and potential upgrades at the position, and one obvious name is Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, who has been benched in favor of Jacoby Brissett. Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports believes this could be a possibility and pointed out that the Raiders can easily get out of the Geno Smith extension after this season:
“I think he could fit because you look at Geno Smith, you’d say, ‘Well, they just traded for Geno Smith, they signed him to an extension. Well, that extension you can get out of it after this season. It’s really not that cumbersome, unlike the Tua Tagovailoa situation. You can kind of move off of Geno Smith if you want to.”
The Raiders would face just $18.5 million in dead cap money were they to cut Smith this offseason, so it is certainly not unfeasible. And Sullivan also believes that Pete Carroll being the head coach of the Raiders would make it more likely they will pursue a veteran option at the quarterback position, as he isn’t looking for a complete rebuild:
“Kyler Murray makes sense. He’s a younger player, obviously would give them a little bit of a higher ceiling especially when you have invested heavily on the offensive side of the ball over the last couple of years in Brock Bowers, in Ashton Jeanty out of the backfield. And this is why I think that they could legitimately be players for Kyler Murray, because Pete Carroll is the head coach. Pete Carroll, he may look it, but he’s no spring chicken. One of the oldest head coaches in the NFL. He’s not someone whose there for a rebuild, he’s not there to draft, develop a quarterback to compete 3, 4, 5 years down the line. He wants to contend for the playoffs as early as 2026 and that means bringing in a veteran player. They tried to do it with Geno Smith, hasn’t worked out. Maybe they try their hand here with Kyler Murray.”
A core of Murray, Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers would certainly have the makings of an explosive offense as long as they can build up the offensive line. Whether that would be enough to bring the Raiders back to postseason contention remains to be seen.
Raiders expect Jackson Powers-Johnson to be out for a while
Raiders guard Jackson Powers-Johnson had to be carted off the field with an ankle injury during the team’s loss to the Broncos, and it sounds as if he will be gone for multiple weeks and possibly the rest of the season.
