The Las Vegas Raiders opened their checkbooks in free agency, but they didn't add anything close to a top receiver.
The Las Vegas Raiders turned into big spenders this offseason, mostly because they had to be. The combination of a 3-14 season along with a boatload of cap space virtually eliminated any other possibility, so the Raiders went all-in on beefing up their offensive line while adding some defensive playmakers.
So where’s the missing beef when it comes to cash spending? That would be in the receivers group, where the Raiders have been surprisingly tight-fisted to date. The sole real investment at receiver has been Jalen Nailor, who was signed away from the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.
The Raiders have received a surprising array of compliments for this move, and on paper it’s a good one. Nailor was overshadowed in Minnesota by the likes of Justin Jefferson, so he’s a good example of a receiver in his prime who’s poised to move up and possibly break out.
But no one thinks Nailor is a number-one receiver, and he’s not being paid like one. He’ll make just over $12 million this season, according to Spotrac, so there was plenty of room for a big-money addition if Las Vegas wanted to go there.
They didn’t, though, so what does it all mean? For starters, it means that new coach Klint Kubiak will likely rely on a combination of running back Ashton Jeanty, a rebuilt offensive line and a potentially dominant tight-end pairing of Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer.
That’s also called making do, however, and it’s hard to imagine this group being explosive enough to compete at a high level. It will be better than last year’s group, but that’s not really saying a lot.
New quarterback Kirk Cousins is a fairly good object lesson in how this all works. Cousins has had some spotty seasons in which he’s been borderline bad, but some of his best years happened in Minnesota with Kubiak when he had Jefferson and Adam Thielen close to his prime, among others.
The Vikings had an explosive passing game that got them into the playoffs, but one of the big drawbacks with Cousins is that he’s not going to get you over the top and spark a deep playoff run.
Sooner or later this has to change, and Kubiak almost certainly knows it. He coached a stellar receivers group in Seattle last year, as the threat of Jaxon Smith-Njigba made the Seahawks explosive when they had to be. This is an important situation to watch going forward, as it’s a major add that needs to happen in Las Vegas.