{"id":381457,"date":"2025-12-31T00:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T00:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381457\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T00:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T00:16:08","slug":"week-18-nfl-power-rankings-question-maxx-crosbys-future-with-las-vegas-raiders-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381457\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 18 NFL Power Rankings question Maxx Crosby\u2019s future with Las Vegas Raiders\u2019 rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

After losing to the New York Giants this past Sunday<\/a>, the Las Vegas Raiders have a clear path to securing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft by losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the season finale. That will officially ignite the Raiders\u2019 offseason rebuild, where questions about Maxx Crosby\u2019s future in Las Vegas<\/a> will ensue. In fact, that\u2019s already a big topic of discussion when it comes to the Week 18 NFL Power Rankings.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

What we learned this season:\u00a0The Raiders need to embrace a full rebuild.<\/p>\n

Coach Pete Carroll was brought in to change the culture within the organization and make the team competitive right away. The truth is that the Raiders are far from being competitive and could soon be searching for a new head coach for the third straight season. Sunday marked their 10th double-digit loss in 2025, and quarterback\u00a0Geno Smith\u00a0threw multiple interceptions yet again. It\u2019s time they embrace a full rebuild through the draft and development. This offseason will provide an opportunity to do so, as ESPN Analytics gives them an 80% shot at the No. 1 pick. At the same time, it might be worth it to explore trading star defensive end\u00a0Maxx Crosby, who is 28 with aspirations of winning. The Raiders have won a combined six games in the past two seasons.\u00a0\u2014 Ryan McFadden<\/a><\/p>\n

It may not be popular, but McFadden is sharing a lot of the same sentiments that I\u2019ve been saying for a few weeks now. Trading Crosby should be on the table this offseason, and after last week\u2019s news that he and the organization are at odds about him getting shut down for the final two games, it seems like that could become a reality in the spring. Of course, a lot can change in the coming months, and the Raiders would have to get a significant return for a trade to be worth it. But it\u2019s safe to say that Crosby\u2019s future in Las Vegas is, at least, in question.<\/p>\n

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NFL.com<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

Geno Smith\u00a0was crushed after throwing\u00a0his second interception\u00a0on Sunday, replaced by\u00a0Kenny Pickett, and it\u2019s at least possible that\u2019s the last we\u2019ve seen of the 35-year-old quarterback in Las Vegas. The Geno experiment just hasn\u2019t worked out as hoped, with the\u00a034-10 loss\u00a0to the Giants raising his INT total to a league-worst 17 as the Raiders moved into the driver\u2019s seat for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Whether that pick lands Vegas the passer of the future or not remains to be seen, but it\u2019s clear that it could be one of several major changes to occur. We need to see what Pete Carroll\u2019s future is, and then there\u2019s\u00a0the whole Maxx Crosby situation. Once again, the Raiders are a near-teardown, and it\u2019s no guarantee they\u2019ll do enough next offseason to be competitive. \u2014 Eric Edholm<\/a><\/p>\n

Edholm\u2019s last sentence is significant. The Silver and Black\u2019s roster needs a good amount of work, and if the organization rebuilds this offseason properly, the Raiders should be one of the youngest teams in the league next year. That means they probably won\u2019t win many games in 2026, but at least they\u2019ll be developing a young core and laying the team\u2019s foundation.<\/p>\n

In other words, I think a realistic expectation for the 2026 Raiders is that they\u2019ll be like the 2014 squad that was led by rookies Derek Carr and Khalil Mack. That team went just 3-13, but the young core got valuable NFL experience to finish 7-9 in 2015 and then end the franchise\u2019s playoff drought the following year.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report\"\"<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

When the Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll and traded for Geno Smith, the expectation was that they would help deliver a more competitive team right away. That hasn\u2019t happened, and the Raiders now appear to be actively trying to lose games. Las Vegas announced that it was shutting down both Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby ahead of its Week 17 game against the New York Giants\u2014a game that would hand the loser control of the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft. Teams tank all the time in the NFL. However, Raiders fans would probably feel better about the current state of affairs if they hadn\u2019t been sold on the idea that tanking wouldn\u2019t be part of the 2025 plan.\u00a0\u2014 Kristopher\u00a0Knox<\/a><\/p>\n

Being in a position to get the No. 1 overall pick definitely wasn\u2019t the message Carroll conveyed to his team and the fanbase, which is what makes this season so frustrating and disappointing. However, Las Vegas has been stuck in quarterback purgatory for several years now. So, maybe this is what the franchise needed, as it\u2019s easier than ever to hit the reset button.<\/p>\n

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The Athletic<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

Head coach check-in: Back to school?<\/p>\n

The Raiders\u2019 Week 1 win over New England might go down as the most inexplicable result of the season. Las Vegas is 1-13 since, and Pete Carroll may not be the oldest coach in the NFL much longer. At least Carroll understood the assignment. The Raiders\u00a0put Maxx Crosby on IR\u00a0against his will last week and then needed only 2 hours, 49 minutes to\u00a0lose to the Giants, likely securing the top pick. \u2014 Josh Kendall and Chad Graff<\/a><\/p>\n

To be honest, I\u2019m not sure what to make of Crosby and Bowers going on IR regarding what it means for Carroll\u2019s future. I can see the argument that Carroll wouldn\u2019t sign off on that unless he\u2019s guaranteed to be retained in the offseason. On the other hand, that could also be a move where Tom Brady, Mark Davis and John Spytek take the power away from the head coach since the head coach won\u2019t be back and make a decision that\u2019s in the organization\u2019s long-term interests. Regardless, \u2018Black Monday\u2019 will be an eventful day in Southern Nevada.<\/p>\n

The Ringer<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

The best thing I can say about the Raiders? They left no doubt that they deserve to have the top pick in the 2026 draft. A team that can\u2019t put up any resistance against the lowly Giants clearly needs all the roster help it can get. Picking quarterback prospect Fernando Mendoza should be an easy choice for Las Vegas, and he\u2019s the best shot this franchise has to reset some of its awful vibes from this year. \u2014 Diante Lee<\/a><\/p>\n

I wholeheartedly agree with what Lee says here about taking Mendoza. We\u2019ve been waiting for the Raiders to have an opportunity to finally have a chance at securing a franchise quarterback, and they need to take advantage of the situation they\u2019re in. I know everyone isn\u2019t completely sold on Mendoza and wants to hold out for next year\u2019s class, but there is too much risk involved with that line of thinking, in my opinion. A quarterback in the hand is worth two in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing to the New York Giants this past Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders have a clear path…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,1278,61630,1279,1240,1264,35194,2623,1250,16818,5384,1242,593,30575,85,30663,205218],"class_list":["post-381457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brock-bowers","tag-derek-carr","tag-geno-smith","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kenny-pickett","tag-khalil-mack","tag-las-vegas","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-maxx-crosby","tag-new-england","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-pete-carroll","tag-sports","tag-tom-brady","tag-trading-crosby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}