LAS VEGAS RAIDERS 2022 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

It was a weird, but ultimately fruitful season for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. They were, thanks to email leaks in the Washington Commanders harassment investigation, able to excise the cancer of Jon Gruden from their franchise and might not even have to pay out his contract. That was a good thing.

But there was plenty of bad. Former first round selection and budding star wide receiver Henry Ruggs was arrested for killing a woman with his car. Another first rounder, Damon Arnette, was cut after releasing a video of him threatening to murder someone. General manager Mike Mayock should have been fired after that second one, but he did ooze his way through the regular season.

Once Gruden was tossed out the airlock, Rich Bisaccia took over as interim head coach and did an absolutely phenomenal job. Las Vegas had every right to pack it in after one of the franchise killing things that happened to them in 2021, but they survived all three to make the playoffs.

Vegas opened the season 3-0 with solid wins over the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins before dropping two in a row. They were 5-2 entering their bye and, after suffering a three-game skid during their tumultuous November, came out of the slide to finish 5-2 over the final seven games of the season. It was capped by a 35-32 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in a play-in game that put the Raiders in the Wild Card round and sent LA to their sofa sectionals.

Derek Carr completed 68.4 percent of his passes on the season for 4,804 yards, 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Josh Jacobs rushed for 872 yards and nine touchdowns while adding 348 yards receiving. Hunter Renfrow caught 103 passes for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns.

The defense ended the year No. 26 in points allowed and No. 14 in yardage. Yannick Ngakoue, who is no longer with the team, led them with 10 sacks. Maxx Crosby made the Pro Bowl with eight sacks, 56 tackles, 30 QB hits and 13 tackles for a loss.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS

Last season: 10-7

Odds: Over 8.5 wins (-130), Under 8.5 wins (+100)

2022 NFL Draft: Dylan Parham, OG, Memphis (Round 3), Zamir White, RB, Georgia (Round 4), Neil Farrell, DT, LSU (Round 4), Matthew Butler, DT, Tennessee (Round 5), Thayer Munford, Jr., OT, Ohio State (Round 7), Brittain Brown, RB, UCLA (Round 7)

2022 Additions: Chandler Jones, Edge (free agent), Bilal Nichols, DE (free agent), Brandon Bolden, RB (free agent), Anthony Averett, CB (free agent), Mack Hollins, WR (free agent), Alex Bars, OG (free agent), Jakob Johnson, FB (free agent), Darius Phillips, CB (free agent), Keelan Cole, WR (free agent), Kenny Young, ILB (free agent), Duron Harmon, Safety (free agent), Vernon Butler, DT (free agent), Tyler Lancaster, DE (free agent), Ameer Abdullah, RB (free agent), Jacob Hollister, TE (free agent), Kyler Fackrell, OLB (free agent), Kyle Peko, DT (free agent), Micah Kiser, ILB (free agent), Mattias Farley, Safety (free agent), Tashawn Bower, DE (free agent), Jesper Horsted, WR (free agent), Tee Davis, LB (free agent)

Projected Starters

Offense

QB: Derek Carr

RB: Josh Jacobs

WR: Devante Adams

WR: Hunter Renfrow

WR: Keelan Cole

TE: Darren Waller

FB: Jakob Johnson

LT: Kolton Miller

LG: John Simpson

C: Andre James

RG: Lester Cotton, Sr.

RT: Alex Leatherwood

Defense

LDE: Maxx Crosby

LDT: Andrew Billings

RDT: Bilal Nichols

RDE: Chandler Jones

WLB: Divine Deablo

MLB: Denzel Perryman

SLB: Jayon Brown

CB: Rock Ya-Sin

CB: Nate Hobbs

SS: Johnathan Abram

FS: Tre’von Moehrig

Special Teams

PK: Daniel Carlson

P: AJ Cole

PR: Hunter Renfrow

KR: Hunter Renfrow

PREVIEW

The offseason started with a bang for the Raiders as they landed one of the most coveted head coaching prospects of the last half decade when Josh McDaniels finally decided to cut himself loose from Bill Belichick. Unlike the last time McDaniels agreed to take over a team, he didn’t change his mind at the last minute and, as of this writing, remains Las Vegas’ head coach.

Dave Ziegler was brought in to replace the disgraced and dumbfounded Mike Mayock, who never should have been hired as a GM in the first place. His last few drafts and personnel moves with the Raiders should not only disqualify him from any NFL job, but keep him off TV and make any Waffle House wary at the sight of his application, no matter how badly they need the men’s room floor mopped.

Adding McDaniels wasn’t the only big move for the Raiders as they immediately closed a deal to bring Devante Adams in via trade from the Green Bay Packers. It cost Vegas multiple picks to do it, but this is a team ready to win now and it’s unlikely anyone they’ll pick at the bottom of the draft over the next couple of seasons will have the impact that Adams will this season. Plus, he had Carr are best buds and there’s nothing wrong with keeping your franchise QB happy.

Their 2022 campaign is a tough one, but it’s situated in a way that gives Vegas a leg up on some of the other AFC West teams. I think they’ll lose their opener against the Chargers, but could see them winning the next three against the Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos before taking their second loss at the Kansas City Chiefs. That would put them at 3-2 heading into the bye.

The post bye schedule works much the same way, with an easy game against the Houston Texans followed by a battle at the New Orleans Saints. Then it’s a win circled at the Jacksonville Jaguars before a heavyweight fight against the Indianapolis Colts in Vegas.

I think they’ll probably split with every AFC West team and do better against the NFC West, with the Los Angeles Rams the only team of the four I see knocking them off. Their final four are hosting the New England Patriots, at the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers at home and then hosting the Chiefs in the finale when both teams could already have secured a playoff spot, but might be crossing swords to set up a home playoff game and division championship.

Final record prediction: 11-6

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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