The Las Vegas Raiders are entering a long rebuild and should be investing in their next quarterback by improving the offensive line in free agency and through the draft.
How are the Las Vegas Raiders going to handle their rebuild after failing to properly begin the rebuild last season? Former head coach Pete Carroll assured fans and the organization that he would lead the team to the playoffs in his first season but was fired after winning just three games.
The Raiders attempted to “go for it” and instead of starting the rebuild last season and it backfired. The team signed several veterans that should have been ring-chasing on different teams instead of contributing to a last-place finish and securing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
Las Vegas hired Super Bowl champion and Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to become the franchise’s next head coach, the first step of a successful rebuild. The organization stressed to candidates that they need to be prepared for this process to take a few seasons and they got their guy. The next step is to reset the quarterback position.
With that coveted No.1 pick, the Raiders will be selecting Indiana QB and Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza to replace starter Geno Smith, who led the National Football League with 17 interceptions. Smith was brought in as Carroll’s guy and was signed to a two-year extension worth up to $85.5 million with incentives, including $66.5 million being fully guaranteed, in April 2025.
Despite that enormous amount of money for Smith, the Raiders still have a ton of cap space to work with in free agency. They can use a chunk of that cap space to address the next part of a good rebuild, the offensive line.
Las Vegas’ O-line was ranked the worst by Pro Football Focus (PFF) in 2025. That unit was a huge reason why the offense couldn’t score points and why rookie phenom running back Ashton Jeanty couldn’t get much going throughout his first season in the NFL.
NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal ranked the 101 best free agents this offseason with two former Buffalo Bills interior linemen ranked inside the top 30 – guard David Edwards at 15 and center Connor McGovern at 26 – and Rosenthal believes the Raiders could pair both back up in Las Vegas.
“Consistent plus starters at guard get paid huge money in free agency. Edwards has been one of the best free-agent signings (2023) of the Brandon Beane era,” Rosenthal wrote Monday.
“Ollie Connolly proposed on NFL Daily that an interested team like the Raiders could sign McGovern and Edwards together to fix their interior line, an idea that I heartily cosign.”
Doing so would completely revamp two-thirds of the interior that struggled mightily to protect the QB and RB. Left tackle Kolton Miller was outstanding before he was hurt, so adding both Edwards and McGovern would help protect Mendoza on the left side and up the middle.
Edwards was the 19th-best guard out of 81 qualifiers by PFF last season and 14th-best in pass protection. McGovern was the 15th-best center out of 40 qualifiers and sixth-best in pass protection.
Who knows if the Raiders would consider this, but it would make a ton of sense and show an investment in the franchise’s next QB.