Las Vegas Raiders

Air Raid — Spread it out, tempo, spacing.
Team fit 82.0 B+ · Read the full guide →

4-3 Attack — One-gap penetration. Rush four, man behind it.
Team fit 81.7 B+

A middle-of-the-league roster with specific, nameable strengths and one problem it cannot hide. The face of it is Maxx Crosby (LE, 97), and after him the defense falls off a cliff — the next-best defender is Taron Johnson (84).

Brock Bowers (TE, 95) is the headliner. 97 catching — hands you never worry about; 90 catch in traffic — catches it through contact like the defender is not there; 90 speed — real speed that has to be accounted for. Game-planning against this team starts with him and works backward.

Kirk Cousins (76) at quarterback is serviceable rather than special; the stars around him are asked to make him right. After him, the cliff is real — the next-best skill player is Ashton Jeanty (84). Take the headliner away and this is a different, much quieter offense. The line has a star of its own: Kolton Miller (LT, 93), the kind of blocker whole run concepts get built behind.

Maxx Crosby (LE, 97) sets the terms. 96 finesse moves — wins with bend and hands — the finesse half of a rush; 95 tackling — does not miss in the open field; 92 block shedding — sheds blocks like they are optional. On a defense this thin, he is less a centerpiece than a life raft — offenses go everywhere else first.

It is a one-man headline, though — the next-best defender is Taron Johnson (84), and offenses that survive the star find a much more ordinary unit behind him.

Matt Gay (75) kicks — 96 leg, 84 accuracy. A.J. Cole (82) punts — 97 leg, 87 accuracy. The return game has a genuine weapon: Dareke Young (85 return, 90 speed).

Offense: Dont'e Thornton Jr (WR, 68 OVR) — a 96 speed buried at 68 overall. Speed is the one trait that plays at any overall — it travels to any package, any formation, any Sunday.

Defense: Jermod McCoy (CB, 73 OVR). Read the ratings page twice: the overall says 73, the speed says 92. Overall is about the whole job; that speed is about one job, and he can already do that one as well as most starters.