What Carroll, Raiders Need in Week 11 and Beyond

Raiders Bringing the Young Guys Along

Heading into this past offseason, the Raiders needed to add talent at their skill positions. General Manager John Spytek approached the NFL Draft with this top of mind. The Raiders used three of their first four draft picks in the most recent draft on skill position players.

However, only Ashton Jeanty has had much of an impact so far. This has quietly been an issue for the Raiders, as few teams with a bottom-tier roster can afford for two of their three top picks to have little to no impact. Las Vegas' bad offensive line has rendered Jeanty largely ineffective as well.

Las Vegas' offense has struggled overall, but the lack of an impact from second-round pick Jack Bech and fourth-round pick Dont'e Thornton has been hard to understand. However, at 2-7 and after trading veteran wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, it is time for the Raiders to lean on both players.

Three of the Raiders four top draft picks have not made an impact. Las Vegas also used two third round picks on offensive linemen that have not played much this season, either.

The Raiders used five of their first six draft picks on offensive players at positions of need, all of whom have hardly made a difference. This must change moving forward.

Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll has often spoken about his preference of playing young players. However, Bech has hardly played this season. Thornton has had his share of growing pains, some of which have been costly to the Raiders.

Still, the Raiders need Jeanty, Bech, Thornton, and offensive lineman Caleb Rogers to become more involved in what they do.

Heading into their Week 12 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders will now turn to Bech and Thornton to become more impactful. Carroll and the Raiders need more from their draft class or else the roster is effectively worse than last season.

Before week 12, Carroll noted his philosophy regarding young players. His philosophy makes the fact that Bech has hardly played or made an impact this season even harder to understand.

"With all young guys, to me, and you guys have heard me say this, that we want to play them early and want to see where they are and try to get them to the midpoint of the season, where they have some background and experience, where they can play like regulars. And so, I mean, we're kind of there,” Carroll said.

“This is where we turn the corner for the second half, and I've already mentioned that to those guys, that this is where we count on them to come through and be cleaner with their assignments and sharper and just on it better than they've been earlier. And hopefully, that's what we'll see down the stretch."