A year ago, the Las Vegas Raiders were a trendy team to upset the apple cart in the AFC West.
With Josh McDaniels taking over, pairing Davante Adams with Derek Carr, adding Chandler Jones, and extending the likes of Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow, it felt like the Raiders were building toward a quick turnaround.
And then the season started.
Vegas went 6-11, including three separate three-game losing streaks and some dramatic defeats to finish third in the division. The Raiders lacked cohesion, particularly on defense and had glaring depth issues exacerbated by injury.
The Raiders benched Carr and released the longtime QB after the season, moving on to Jimmy Garoppolo. Then they traded Waller months after handing him an extension for peanuts on the dollar.
It's a team in flux that isn't bad enough to crater but doesn't feel good enough as currently constructed to knock the Kansas City Chiefs off the division throne.
This week at the Annual League Meeting, Raiders owner Mark Davis preached patience for the new brass.
"Unfortunately, every time you change there is going to be changes that those people are going to see but you have to give them time to understand the changes," Davis said, via The Athletic. "I know that a lot of people can watch film and think that they know it all, but watching film doesn't give you all the answers. You need to watch the games and be there to get the full picture.
"So, yeah, you gotta have patience."
Since Davis took over for his father, Al, the Raiders have undergone four coaching changes with two playoff appearances, including 2021 under interim Rich Bisaccia, and no postseason wins.
Perhaps predicting the Raiders to make noise in Year 1 of the Dave Ziegler-McDaniels rebuild was misguided outside the building. Perhaps another year or two will stabilize the operation. But Raiders fans have been plenty patient waiting for a winner.
The hope is they won't have to be patient too much longer if the new brass hits on more draft picks than the previous regime.
