It’s official. The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the NFL’s worst teams in 2024, entering the Week 14 NFL schedule at 2-10. Their current standing has the Raiders projected to have the second pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
There’s no denying that this Raiders team is bad, but just how did they get here? One former NFL general manager recently provided his insight into the situation in another ugly look into the Raiders’ decision-making.
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Las Vegas Raiders’ Gardner Minshew and Christian Wilkins labeled two of NFL’s ‘least impactful signings’
Sporting the NFL’s 27th-ranked offense and 28th-ranked defense, the Las Vegas Raiders are a mess on both sides of the ball. They tried addressing key needs on offense and defense, signing a new quarterback, plus a star defender. Yet, former NFL GM Jeff Diamond, who now works as an analyst with the 33rd Team, believes signing Gardner Minshew and Christian Wilkins were two of the offseason’s biggest mistakes.
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While it’s not hard to see why attaching themselves to Minshew has been a mistake, he’s only under contract for another season. Wilkins, on the other hand, has three more years left on his contract, and he’s earning a lot more than the $25M deal Minshew signed.
“Wilkins is signed for three more years on his four-year, $110 million contract with the Raiders, so he may play well enough in future years for the team to justify this deal. So far, it’s not so good.
33rd Team’s Jeff Diamond on Las Vegas Raiders
Wilkins earned this contract off an excellent 2023 season in Miami when he had 65 tackles and career-highs of nine sacks and 23 QB hits. The 28-year-old former first-round pick of the Dolphins had developed into one of the league’s best defensive tackles who hadn’t missed a game in three years, and the Raiders paid him accordingly.
But this season has been derailed by a foot fracture suffered in Week 5 against Denver. He’s been out indefinitely following surgery. In his five games played this season, Wilkins had two sacks, six QB hits, 17 tackles and two TFLs.
They were hoping Wilkins’s joining Maxx Crosby would spur them on to greater heights on defense, but that will have to come next year for the disappointing 2-10 Raiders. “
Odds are signing Wilkins will pay off for the Raiders in the future, but Diamond is right. Wilkins has been one of the NFL’s least impactful signings of the offseason, and the foot fracture takes away his chance to get the Raiders a solid return on their investment. Yet, 2025 will provide the Raiders with a fresh start.
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