Raiders' DB Chris Smith Needs To Have a Strong Offseason

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Michael Canelo | Last updated May 8, 2025 6:00 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders are heading into a whole new direction in 2025. The Raiders now have a veteran head coach in Pete Carroll who will lead the way on and off the field. Giving the Silver and Black, hopefully, the stability they have been looking for in a head coach since moving to Las Vegas.

The Raiders also have a new general manager, John Spytek. Spytek will do whatever he can to give the Raiders the best players possible to have a successful roster. Spytek is one of the best up-and-coming general managers, and pairing him with Carroll has been good so far.

For the players, it is not safe to say that they will automatically have the same role or starting job as last year's team. We have already seen some players leave in free agency from last year's team because the new regime did not want to overpay for them. And players heading into 2025 will have to prove to Carroll and Spytek that they are the type of player that will help turn things around in Las Vegas.

A player who needs to have a strong offseason in terms of showing flash in minicamps and training camp is defensive back Chris Smith. Smith has had his chances to show what he can do with the Silver and Black, but he has not in his first two seasons with the team. Now he must if he wants to be with the Raiders in the future with the new regime.

Our Hondo Carpenter talked about Smith heading into the 2025 season on the latest episode of the"Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

"A guy who is the most perplexing player on this list. Salt of the earth, young man. Great kid. Georgia did not win a National Title without him, especially one year without him. He is a guy around the NFL. There was a lot of excitement about this kid," said Carpenter. "Not just the Raiders. He has come in and frankly, his first two years have been a dud."

"I thought we would see something last season, was extremely disappointed that we did not. And that is Chris Smith, safety out of Georgia. He has every single reason to be great. He was great in college, he is great in the locker room, tremendous kid of character, super hard worker, it just has not materialized for him in the NFL."