The Las Vegas Raiders have had two tough losses in a row handed their way. In spite of the hardship, the team hasn’t fallen off yet in recent power rankings.
Right now, there is not much going right for the Silver and Black other than quarterback Derek Carr playing decent football. Injuries have recently wiped out their roster at key positions such as wide receiver and offensive line. The defense has also had its share of issues with injuries to rookie cornerback Damon Arnette and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski.
Along with injuries, the Raiders defense has left a lot to be desired in the early going. Players that were expected to have an impact such as Maliek Collins and Cory Littleton have fallen off the map. Nevertheless, Yahoo Sports recently released its NFL Power Rankings and they believe the Raiders are the 13th ranked squad.
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The Raiders might have missed the mark with Clelin Ferrell
All things considered, the Raiders are still in decent shape at 2-2, the season is far from lost. The underlying issue is if the defense will get its act together, with or without Paul Guenther. Something that stood out from the Raiders’ ranking was that Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports believes that looking back, the team made a mistake in picking Clelin Ferrell. In what is Ferrell’s “worst” game in 2020, he only played 35 snaps and notched just one tackle.
Essentially, seven tackles and zero sacks through four games isn’t acceptable from the fourth overall pick. Even more frustrating for fans is that looking back, we see how many players the Raiders missed out on. Schwab recalled a quote in which general manager Mike Mayock said they “had [Ferrell] and Nick Bosa right next to each other.” Oof, maybe the Raiders should consider themselves lucky to still be in an okay situation with such draft gaffes. The bad news is that they have to travel to Kansas City this Sunday, and these power rankings might look very different after next week.
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*Top Photo: Associated Press/Isaac Brekken