The Las Vegas Raiders are entering 2025 free agency with a lot of money to spend, but a lot of positions and needs to address. It may seem like they will have money to blow, but their 13 defensive free agents, most who would like to come back, beg to differ.
Now that the Maxx Crosby contract extension is done, the Raiders can focus fully on resigning some of their free agents, including the 13 they have on the defensive side of the ball. Guys like Robert Spillane, Tre’Von Moehrig, Malcolm Koonce, Nate Hobbs, and a few others will be top priority. But the Raiders have other positions of need that won’t include being fixed by bringing guys out.
You can only bring so many guys back before you’re just bringing back the same four win team from last season. They need new bodies, especially on the offensive side of the ball. And, luckily there are a lot out there, and a lot of good players, too. They need weapons around whoever the quarterback is about to be, whether it’s Aidan O’Connell, a rookie, or a veteran.
They can get those weapons through the 2025 NFL Draft, in what is a much better wide receiver class than what people are letting on, and a stacked running back class, or they could go the route of free agency. If they were to go the free agency route, there is a wide receiver with a bit of juice still left, who is very familiar with the new Raiders head coach, Pete Carroll.
Raiders could sign Tyler Lockett
On Wednesday, a ton of news hit, and Lockett being released by the Seattle Seahawks was one of the bigger ones on the day, especially considering he is one of the best to ever wear a Seahawks uniform at that position. They also permitted DK Metcalf the ability to seek a trade — a crazy day for Seahawks fans, too.
They released Lockett because of the money they would save by cutting him, not because he can’t play anymore. According to Spotrac, Lockett saved the Seahawks $17 million. His base salary was $10 million with a $5.3 million roster bonus and a $1.7 million game bonus.
Lockett still had 600 receiving yards last season on just under 50 targets, and was only thrown 59 catchable balls of 73 targets, per Sports Info Solutions. His 600 receiving yards would have been third on the Raiders last season behind Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers.
It may feel like Lockett is a bit washed, but he’s still got some juice left in the tank. He would be a solid third option, and he knows Pete Carroll very well. Why not when he’s going to be somewhat cheap and they have the money to spend?
