Raiderstation

Mike Tice once said while coaching for the Raiders: “If you look at the offense like a fancy car, the offensive line is the engine. Even though we might have nice spinners and nice rims and tinted windows and some neat paint job, it doesn’t mean crap without the engine. If the engine’s not working, the car might look like a pretty nice car, but it’s a piece of crap.” And he was 100% right. I wish we had him back. Changes must be made on the O-line. Charles Grant is a very athletic lineman. We should give him some reps at right tackle. Bring back Powers-Johnson as the starter at center. Parham has got to go. Maybe we should consider moving Meredith back to guard. He did so well there last year.

rcraider wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:26 am The mistake was made years ago when we whiffed and drafted Alex Leatherwood

What was even worse was that Christian Darrisaw was still available. He was much more highly rated by pretty much everyone. He was the consensus pick (aside from Trevon Moehrig who we got in the second round) and a favorite here on this forum. It’s so asinine that every year this board seems to be able to identify better talent then what our crappy management does

Pfish252000 wrote: Tue Jan 13, 2026 9:02 pm What was even worse was that Christian Darrisaw was still available. He was much more highly rated by pretty much everyone. He was the consensus pick (aside from Trevon Moehrig who we got in the second round) and a favorite here on this forum. It’s so asinine that every year this board seems to be able to identify better talent then what our crappy management does

Bad drafts from bad FOs. Bad FOs from a bad owner. We can only hope Doofus is truly stepping back from anything other than signing checks. Which I think has a lot more to do with him trying to save face and keep from seeing his hideous mansion set on fire, than him having an epiphany. I don’t think the dude is capable of a “eureka” moment.

We can be begrudgingly thankful for the timing I suppose. He’s finally f[raiders_icon]cking off when we’re about to draft a 1st Rnd quarterback for the first time since 2007, and the 5th one (6th if counting Roman Gabriel) in FRANCHISE HISTORY. That factoid is f[raiders_icon]cking nuts.

I wonder if we fixed the line would it be worth keeping Geno Smiff, just to let Mendoza get up to speed before throwing him to the wolves? Smith will be fairly cheap and may play much better with a good O-line and a #1 rookie breathing down his neck. Im not a fan of Geno myself but I also dont think he is as bad as he was either.

rich72 wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 2:10 am I wonder if we fixed the line would it be worth keeping Geno Smiff, just to let Mendoza get up to speed before throwing him to the wolves? Smith will be fairly cheap and may play much better with a good O-line and a #1 rookie breathing down his neck. Im not a fan of Geno myself but I also dont think he is as bad as he was either.

....i'm more inclined to think that 'we' broke geno, in as much as he was pretty consistent for a large sample size of years prior to coming here, and that offense as a whole, in addition to the line, was found to have been an impossible mess as we heard more about the chip, and that no one even knew their responsibilities on a given play.
....where he failed miserably is how he handled it.....

rich72 wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 2:10 am I wonder if we fixed the line would it be worth keeping Geno Smiff, just to let Mendoza get up to speed before throwing him to the wolves? Smith will be fairly cheap and may play much better with a good O-line and a #1 rookie breathing down his neck. Im not a fan of Geno myself but I also dont think he is as bad as he was either.

Raiders are on the hook for 26 million anyway. Its just a question if he could function as a #2.

Rabidraider wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:22 am Raiders are on the hook for 26 million anyway. Its just a question if he could function as a #2.

...I'd imagine that whatever the new staff decides, if he was retrained, it would only be for a season, and he would be led to believe that he was starting the season.
....I don't believe that at this point, (career wise) he is ready to go into any situation with the understanding prior, that he is the #2.

Geno is as good as gone. We only save $8 million by moving on, but it's still worth it. He's not the right guy to be a mentor to Mendoza and that's the primary job of our vet QB in 2026.

KillerRaider30 wrote: Mon Jan 12, 2026 7:23 pm The new coaches won't get their hands on the o-line until after free agency and the draft.
How will they know who/if to sign/draft?

The coaches will be new, but at least it’s not a total regime change for once. Spytek and his team are supposed to identify the talent and I’m sure they’ve been watching these guys all year in practice and have some idea. But yeah, this is the #1 reason we’ve been so bad. You can’t start from scratch every year.

As Chucker said, Geno will not be a good mentor for someone. Cut him loose

DanKD wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 6:41 am As Chucker said, Geno will not be a good mentor for someone. Cut him loose

Apparently he already removed all things Raider from his Instagram, so it's likely that the conversation has already happened. No team can officially release anyone until after the SB unless they are still in the playoffs though.

Geno is steaming garbage & should never be let in the facility again...I want him as far away from Mendoza as humanly possible!!!

pfish57 wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 6:49 am Geno is steaming garbage & should never be let in the facility again...I want him as far away from Mendoza as humanly possible!!!

Teams have to know we are letting him go, but at the same time, there are a ton of teams with QB needs and the market is not going to be great and the draft will not offer any solutions either. Murray is gone in AZ and who he goes to is a mystery to me. Jones likely resigns in Indy. Tua likely traded unless they decide to keep him for the new coach. So you have AZ, Pitt, NYJ (likely taking Simpson unless Moore comes out which I doubt) LAR (if Stafford retires) Cle, Mia. All need a QB with two coming off the board for Tua and Murray. That means at least 3 teams maybe 4 who are out of luck.

Hanging onto Geno until it is open season might make sense as a trade option. I know his value is garbage but he is better than the other scrubs out there. If no one bites, you let him go before the draft and nobody gets too uptight.

I dont think anyone is trading for Tua with his comtract. Miami will have to release him

DanKD wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 9:13 am I dont think anyone is trading for Tua with his comtract. Miami will have to release him

I don't think they can release him this year. Isn't his dead cap hit something like 100 million this year?

chucker wrote: Wed Jan 14, 2026 6:43 am Apparently he already removed all things Raider from his Instagram, so it's likely that the conversation has already happened. No team can officially release anyone until after the SB unless they are still in the playoffs though.

Maybe hes planning to hold out. Lol