Harper was a functional UDFA pickup for the Raiders last year from the Chargers. Had to cut him with new regime this year to keep duds like Darnay Holmes and Kyu Blu Kelly (sigh).
Why bad teams stay bad.

I genuinely believe the Packers-QB success is their no-owner team. No owner wants their QB (who they are “friends” with) complaining about getting replaced. Packers mgmt don’t care.

For #2 point—meant to say Raiders have a lot of YOUNG position groups, and that their relative health this Preseason has helped with development as a group.

1) Raiders made significant upgrades at critical roles & positions. Compared to Week #1 2024:
Head Coach: AP to Carroll
OC: Getsy to Chip Kelly
QB: Minshew to Geno
RB: Zamir to Jeanty

2) Raiders have a ton of position groups (OL, WR, IDL, DB), but the team has stayed relatively healthy throughout Training camp/Preseason, allowing these groups to learn the system and develop together.

3) Pete Carroll can be seen as the best possible choice to coach-up a young DB group. There is precedent—Not just Legion O Boom, but more recently with CBs like Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant. Carroll can get results with DBs drafted outside round 1.

3 Reasons for optimism for the 2025 Las Vegas Raiders (in ascending order):

1) Will our back-7 defense hold up? On paper, the Raiders have no starting CBs. Outside, nickel…

2) Can our WRs other than Jacoby make a legit contribution to the offense? Again, the non-Jacoby WRs aren’t necessarily bad, just mostly young.
Can Dont’e Thornton beat press coverage?
Does a washed Cooper do nothing other than take development snaps from the young WRs?

3) Will Raiders OL hold up? OL isn’t necessarily bad, just young. Meredith, JPJ, Glaze collectively have a total of 37 NFL OL starts. We don’t really know if they are good/bad.

Eric Foner’s Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution.

It’s pretty textbook-like, but he draws from a lot of primary material that often conflicts with the post Civil War narratives that were written decades later.
I read it to try and understand why we are the way we are.

Thx for this.
Really having a hard time understanding why Mason Graham is this no-doubt top-10 pick, yet his production stats and size are average. No Combine/Pro Day measurements, other than bench press, which was below avg for DT.
What gives?

1A: Mahomes & Allen
1B: Burrow & Jackson

Big guys don’t get hurt & ruin seasons.

It seems so insignificant, but the fact that Ben Johnson had a video interview with the Raiders IS significant. Raiders don’t get to talk to prospective Head Coaches of Johnson’s status, like ever.
Al Davis wanted to hire guys like Sean Payton, Ken Whisenhunt and Steve Sarkisian. They all said no.

There is just no way a candidate like Ben Johnson interviews unless it was Brady making the phone call.