Heading into the 2023 season, the Raiders are in a very interesting spot with their roster. They have several older veterans who are still great players, such as Davante Adams and Chandler Jones. But what they lack are high-end players on cheap rookie contracts.
And in a recent article by Pro Football Focus, they did a salary cap analysis for all 32 teams. In the study, they took a look at future cap space, age, top-end talent, and the number of valuable contracts on the roster.
Unfortunately, the Raiders did not grade out well in this study, coming in at No. 31. Here is what the site had to say about the roster for the Raiders now and going into the future:
The Raiders are pulling in two different directions from a roster construction standpoint, recouping a grand total of a compensatory third-round pick after moving on from quarterback Derek Carr and tight end Darren Waller in the same offseason.
Las Vegas is also dead last in active draft capital and has the fifth-oldest roster, so an incomplete group doesn’t seem to have a ton of upward mobility in the near future.
The biggest issue for the Raiders is the lack of young talent. Maxx Crosby is their best player and he is only 25 years old. But after him, the cupboard is pretty bare. Josh Jacobs is a young, All-Pro player. But he doesn’t have a contract right now and he plays a position that just doesn’t carry a lot of long-term value.
For the Raiders to start to turn things around from a roster-building perspective, they need some of their young talent to hit. If Tyree Wilson can turn into a Pro Bowl-level player, that would be a wonderful start. But they need to find more top-tier players on both sides of the ball that are under the age of 26.
