LA Chargers: The biggest weakness for each AFC West foe in 2022
By Jason Reed
The Las Vegas Raiders have two big weaknesses:
It is going to suck seeing Davante Adams twice a year but in all honesty, the Las Vegas Raiders still feel like the fourth-best team in the division with a gap between the other three teams. Star receivers are important but you can still be a star receiver and play on a sub-.500 team and the Raiders have issues that might be hard to overcome in 2022.
The first issue that the Chargers can hope to exploit is the offensive line. Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock did not build up a good offensive line and it does not matter how good Davante Adams is, he cannot catch the ball much if Derek Carr is getting pressured a lot.
What is good for the Chargers is the fact that the Raiders do not really have the means to improve the offensive line unless they hit a home run on a cheap signing or a late-round pick. Vegas traded both its first and second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft for Adams and no longer has any cap space to really bring in anyone of note.
The second big issue with the Raiders is the secondary. The Raiders saw a decent defensive season out of Gus Bradley and the players he brought in but the team is much thinner in 2022, especially with Casey Hayward leaving for Atlanta. Gus Bradley is in Indy and while the Raiders have a good pass-rushing duo, the run defense and secondary are going to suffer.
There are two main reasons why the Raiders are the fourth-best team in the AFC West with a gap. The first is the gap at quarterback. Derek Carr is solid but is not on the level as the other three. The second is that these two holes are much larger than the holes on the other three teams.