While the Las Vegas Raiders are set to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9, the majority of this week’s mailbag questions are focused on general manager John Spytek, head coach Pete Carroll and the Raiders’ roster. Without further ado, let’s get to your questions!
Q: Ashton Jeanty and Dont’e Thornton are the only rookies getting much playing time. Does this demonstrate a disconnect between Spytek and Carroll?
A: I don’t think so. I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but Spytek drafted a lot of guys who are high-upside project types rather than “pro-ready” prospects. Also, a lot of the players he took fit the profiles that Carroll looks for, with Darien Porter being the best example, and it’s no coincidence that Thornton has drawn comparisons to DK Metcalf. To me, that signals they were working together and in lockstep on the draft class.
Now, I mentioned last week that I could see the general manager stepping in and asking/telling the head coach to start playing more of the rookies, given the direction the season is heading in for Las Vegas. If that doesn’t happen and the team continues to lose, I could see a rift between the two forming. But right now, I wouldn’t say there is a disconnect between Spytek and Carroll.
A: I completely understand why people are frustrated with Spytek for the reasons you listed. Outside of Jeanty, there have been little to no immediate returns from the 2025 draft class, and his biggest veteran addition, Geno Smith, has been terrible.
For me, I don’t think ‘confidence’ is necessarily the right word to describe my feelings toward Spytek; ‘belief’ or ‘hopeful’ would be better descriptions, if that makes sense. Essentially, I don’t have enough evidence to comfortably pound the table for him, but I’m also not going to write off a general manager after one offseason, especially when I had an idea that the early returns on the draft class were going to be low.
I know it’s frustrating to hear, but Spytek is following in his mentor’s (Buccaneers GM Jason Licht) footsteps when it comes to roster building by drafting and developing players, and that approach takes time to flesh out. But when it works and comes to fruition, it’s the best way to build a sustainable winning organization.
Also, to clarify here, the third-rounder Las Vegas gave up for Geno Smith was in this past draft. It was the pick they got from the Jets in the Davante Adams trade.
A: Pro Football Focus had the Raiders’ offensive line ranking 29th with a pass-blocking efficiency rating of 79.8 in the first three weeks of the season, and then improving to tied for eighth at 87.5 from Weeks 4-7. The running game followed a similar trend. Ashton Jeanty went from a negative two-yard difference between his total rushing yards and rushing yards after contact (144 to 146) in the first three games to plus 63 yards (301 to 238) in the four contests since then.
So, the line is definitely playing better than it was at the beginning of the year.
Q: Why is the offensive line terrible? Jackson Powers-Johnson needs to be our center. What do you think?
A: Tied to my previous answer, I think the offensive line has been playing better recently. A big part of the issue was reshuffling the interior spots, and those guys appear to be settling into their new positions. It just took more time than expected and might be too little, too late at this point in the season.
I’ve given up on the JPJ to center movement. While I can agree that it’s his best position, the coaching staff seems to disagree and appears to be hellbent on keeping him at guard. In other words, I agree with you, I just don’t think we’re going to see that change anytime soon, if at all.
A: I can’t say I agree with you here. I think what you’re seeing is a result of a few factors, one of the biggest being that Jeanty has had 111 carries to Mostert’s 16 this year. So sure, Jeany has gotten tackled in the backfield more times than Mostert, but that’s a result of the major difference in their workloads.
Also, defenses are going to play the two running backs differently, taking a defender out of the box and not keying in on the running game as much when Jeanty comes out of the game. That will change if Mostert gets more touches on first and second downs, and he isn’t as good at making defenders miss, which will result in more TFLs with a bigger workload. For example, Jeanty has forced 26 missed tackles for a rate that’s just under 25 percent of his carries, while Mostert has forced one missed tackle at 6.25 percent, per PFF.
Granted, the veteran does have the higher yards per carry (5.0 to 4.0) between the two backs. But that also can be chalked up to the difference in sample size, as nearly half (37 of his 80 rushing yards) came on one attempt. Remove that from the equation, and Mostert is down to just under 2.9 ypc. Meanwhile, if Jeanty’s three breakaway runs that account for 98 of his rushing yards are taken out, he’s at 3.2 ypc on a much bigger sample size, meaning it’s more sustainable.
The rookie is better at getting the tough yards, while Mostert is more of a home run hitter who can take advantage of when the defense isn’t expecting a run.
A: I think Eric Stokes has been solid, which exceeds my expectations for him when he signed. But I definitely agree with you that his numbers and the perception of his play are inflated by being on the opposite side of Kyu Blu Kelly. Also, the Raiders’ linebackers are pretty weak in coverage, and opposing offenses are targeting the middle of the field frequently.
For context, PFF has Devin White (41) and Kelly (36) as the defense’s two most-targeted players, and Darnay Holmes is third with 22 targets. So, it’s a situation where quarterbacks aren’t throwing Stokes’ way because they don’t have to. But, to his credit, the free-agent signing hasn’t been a liability out there, either.
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In my opinion, he’s playing better than he did last season in Green Bay. However, I’d be cautious about re-signing him in the offseason given the situation outlined above.
Q: Chip Kelly-Is this guy not NFL material?
A: Around the 28-minute mark of the following “Tape Don’t Lie” episode (hyperlinked), Marcus Johnson touched on some of the issues with Kelly’s offense that were eye-opening for me. Kelly is running more of a college-style offense this season, which other people have pointed out as well.
Q: Dalton Wagner seems like he has been on this team for 10 years. Even with all the questions on the O-line, he never plays. Why is he still on the team?
A: Wagner has only been around for three years, spending his first year on injured reserve and the last two (including all of 2025 so far) on the practice squad. So, he’s never occupied a spot on the 53-man roster and can’t play unless he gets called up for a game.
That being said, this is probably the now-or-never type of season for Wagner, where he either gets a chance to prove himself at the end of the campaign or moves on in the offseason. Maybe the Raiders bring him back for one more training camp, but the clock is certainly ticking for the 27-year-old.
Q: Why didn’t the Raiders draft a Rookie Quarterback during the draft when it was deemed the year of the Quarterbacks? Instead, they signed a 34-year-old journeyman Quarterback.
A: I think you’re mixing up your draft classes here because this past year’s class was widely considered to be a down year for quarterbacks. The 2024 draft was the one where six QBs were drafted in the first 12 picks. So, the combination of picking 13th in 2024 and not having many quality options last April led Carroll to want to trade for someone he trusts, since he and Geno Smith have a strong relationship.
A: If Smith gets benched, it’s going to be Kenny Pickett over Aidan O’Connell. I feel pretty confident in saying that the reason the Raiders gave up a fifth-round pick for Pickett is that they lost faith in O’Connell’s ability to serve as the backup with how he played during the preseason.
However, I think the odds are low that Carroll benches Geno. The time to do that would have been during the bye week, and in my opinion, Carroll is going to do everything he can to make it work with Geno by making other changes before switching quarterbacks.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.
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