The Las Vegas Raiders have made a habit out of making bad decisions over the last two decades, hence the lack of overall team success. Because of that, when the Raiders do make a good decision, it is even more jarring for the LA Chargers.
Some would argue that the Raiders are on a streak of great decisions with Pete Carroll as the new head coach, Geno Smith as the new quarterback and Ashton Jeanty as the team's first-overall pick. While those all have their benefits in their own right, the Raiders just recently made their best move of the offseason.
The Raiders hired Anthony Patch in a Senior Personnel Executive capacity. Patch was a senior scout for the Philadelphia Eagles and earned the moniker of being GM Howie Roseman's right-hand man. It goes without saying that this is bad for the Chargers.
Chargers fans should be worried about Anthony Patch joining the Raiders
The one consistent pitfall of the Las Vegas Raiders was that the team would make awful decisions above the player and head coach level. Las Vegas' front office as often made up of people who did poor jobs (including former Chargers GM Tom Telesco), which would impact the on-field product.
Hiring a big-name coach (like Jon Gruden or Josh McDaniels) or bringing in a notable quarterback (such as Jimmy Garoppolo) were Band-Aid fixes on what the real problem was; the Raiders had a fundamental lack of talent in the front office.
That has changed with Patch joining the team. The Eagles have consistently been one of the best-run organizations not just in football, but in all of American sports. Patch, who spent over two decades with the Eagles, is a big reason for that success.
Even if the Carroll-Geno experiment doesn't work for the Raiders they will be set up in the long run for success. This doesn't make next year's team instantly better with the players already on the roster, but it does make the future of the Raiders all the more dangerous.
The AFC West is already hard enough with the Kansas City Chiefs in the midst of a dynasty and the Denver Broncos also being a playoff team. The last thing the Chargers need is for the Raiders to actually figure out how to build long-term, sustained success.
With Patch now in the front office, the Raiders took a huge step to making that a reality.