At one point in the 2020 season, the Raiders had a record of 6-3 and appeared to be a shoo-in to make the playoffs. But they would go on to lost five of their next seven games and failed to make the tournament.
The team needed a big offseason to get over the hump and it’s not clear if they accomplished that. The Raiders traded away multiple starting offensive line and gave Kenyan Drake a starting running back level contract. They failed to bring in a proven cornerback or safety and their depth chart in the secondary looks worse than ever.
They did add pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who will provide a boost to their defense. However, not many are convinced this team is significantly better now than what we saw at the end of the year.
According to BetMGM, the Raiders +260 to make the playoffs in 2021. For non-experienced bettors, that means a player would win $260 for every $100 bet. The odds for the Raiders to *not* make the playoffs sit at -350, meaning a player would need to wager $350 to win $100. Yikes.
We still have the draft to go in three weeks and free agency isn’t quite over. With a few smart signings and a strong draft class, we could see those odds shift quite a bit. But as now, oddsmakers don’t believe this is a playoff team entering 2021.
