Five overlooked questions that will help define the Raiders’ season

Keep Maxx Crosby healthy, Davante Adams happy and Gardner Minshew from being forced into trying to do too much.

Those are the obvious bullet points at the top of the list of things that need to happen for the Raiders to have a successful season in their first full campaign under coach Antonio Pierce.  But what are some of the less obvious factors that will determine if the Raiders are in the running for playoff contention and their second winning record since relocating to Las Vegas in 2020?

Here are questions regarding five areas that will heavily impact the Raiders’ upcoming season, which kicks off at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers, despite not getting as much scrutiny as the largest concerns.

Will Pierce progress in game management?

Part of the reason the Raiders’ fan base went from mere dislike to complete loathing of former coach Josh McDaniels was a series of ultraconservative in-game decisions that cut into the Raiders’ win probability. Strategically, things didn’t get much better when Pierce replaced McDaniels as interim coach midway through last season.

Like McDaniels, Pierce ranked dead-last in the NFL in fourth-down aggression according to charting data from the FTN Football Almanac. While the rest of the league gets more analytically savvy every year and most teams wisely push the boundaries of outdated conventional wisdom, Las Vegas can’t afford to be stuck in the past.    

McDaniels would somewhat smugly dismiss any criticism of his decisions, but Pierce treats it differently. He said he had areas to improve coming out last year and set out to address them this offseason.

Included in that process was building the largest staff in the NFL with 32 assistants including a game management coordinator in Matt Sheldon.

There were still hiccups in the preseason though. Pierce misused his timeouts at the end of the team’s first exhibition game, allowing the Vikings time to set up a 38-yard game-winning field goal.

But Pierce, unlike his predecessor, owned the mistake. He expressed relief it came before the games really mattered.    

"Lesson learned,” Pierce said. “I mean, we talked about it, thought maybe something would play out a little differently. If I could do it over again, probably would."

Can new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s scheme work?

It never took off in Chicago, which fired Getsy after two seasons in January.

The Bears rated near the bottom of the NFL by most offensive metrics under the 40-year-old’s watch, the main reason why his hiring by the Raiders was not all that kindly reviewed this offseason.  Las Vegas was closing in on former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury for the job before he spurned it for the same position in Washington.

In Getsy’s defense, he might have more personnel tools at his disposal with the Raiders than he did with the Bears. Although not nearly as athletic as then-Bears quarterback Justin Fields, Minshew is a more proven passer on the professional level.

Adams remains one of the best receivers in the NFL, and the running back group has been tailored to Getsy’s liking with a starting bulldozer (Zamir White) complemented by a trio of adept pass-catchers (Alexander Mattison, Ameer Abdullah and Dylan Laube).  

Getsy said he wasn’t married to any system and would build around his players, but so far, his offense has looked exactly as expected, heavy on the run and two (or even three) tight-end sets.

Rookie tight end Brock Bowers and second-year complement Michael Mayer will need to click immediately for the offense to reach its potential. Getsy is still vowing flexibility, and a commitment to getting it right at all costs.

“Whatever it takes to win,” Getsy said. “And whether that's some weeks you have to run it more, and some weeks you have throw it more, whatever it takes. I think it's all about playing into the players that you have and trying to get them to do the things that they do really well.”

Has left tackle Kolton Miller fully recovered and gotten into game shape?

Given Getsy’s philosophy and the preponderance of weapons that could step up on any given day, there’s a case to be made that Miller is the single most irreplaceable piece of the offense.

It’s therefore not very comforting that a player so vital practiced only twice in training camp, the final two sessions before the NFL shifted to regular-season mode. Miller had a prolonged recovery from a shoulder injury that also kept him out over the final month-and-a-half of last season.

Once considered ultradurable after only missing two games in his first four seasons, there’s now some question whether Miller can stay healthy. Any time missed would be a big blow for the Raiders, which are not only counting on him to protect Minshew’s blind side but also be the primary paver for White’s hard running style.

The race for AFC playoff spots figures to be tight all year, so the Raiders can ill afford to fall into an early hole. An easy way they could fall into an early hole would be the offensive line regressing if Miller isn’t up to speed.

There are NFL players every year who don’t look like themselves right away after missing training camp — the Raiders saw it first-hand last year with running back Josh Jacobs — but teammates say Miller is already back to normal.   

“He’s a special person,” center Andre James said of Miller. “Watching him go against Maxx and some of these players, it’s, ‘Wow, he hasn’t missed a beat, and he’s been gone for so long.’”

Is Jack Jones a true No. 1 cornerback?

Jones, who’s currently waging war with the creators of the Madden NFL 25 video game over his average player rating, would be insulted by this question.

In the 26-year-old’s mind, he already belongs in the conversation as one of the best coverage players in the league. Never one to lack for confidence, the issue comes with consistency.

It’s been a buzzword whenever any coach is asked about Jones, whom the Raiders claimed off waivers from the New England Patriots midway through last year. The Patriots cutting ties with Jones had more to do with attitude and character concerns, but they likely would have tried harder to make it work if they viewed him as a true No. 1 cornerback.

Jones then took off with the Raiders and looked the part down the stretch of last season with a pair of interceptions and four passes defensed in eight games. But Pierce has been the first to say that his longtime pupil now needs to prove he can do on an every-down basis — and for 17 games instead of four games.

Jones tormented Minshew and backup quarterback Aidan O’Connell in training camp, but then reverted to some old ways in a preseason game against the Cowboys. He got in a jawing match with receiver Ryan Flournoy, and then gave up an easy touchdown to the sixth-round rookie and looked upset on the sideline.      

Those are the type of episodes Jones must escape if he’s going to be counted upon to line up against the NFL’s best receivers on a weekly basis.  

Will cornerback Jakorian Bennett improve in his second season?

Yes, the cornerback position is important enough to merit two questions when it comes to the Raiders.

Las Vegas seems set everywhere else on defense, so it’s the secondary that may make or break where they fall in the league’s defensive pecking order. And if there’s a question about Jones, then there’s certainly one about the other outside starter on the opposite side of him.

Bennett is getting a second chance to prove he’s a starting-caliber corner after being taken in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of the University of Maryland. He started at the beginning of last year but couldn’t hold up against a torrent of targets against him, giving up a 68% completion rate for an average of 12.2 yards per catch.   

Bennett battled injuries and got benched as a rookie, but he dedicated himself to a stringent offseason training regimen and returned with a vengeance. There was supposed to be a competition for the No. 2 corner role but Bennett blew everyone else out and claimed it early in training camp.

Las Vegas did bring in a bit of an insurance policy in case Bennett struggles by signing veteran cornerback Darnay Holmes, who was cut by the New York Giants, last week. But Bennett should get ample opportunity to succeed next to Jones and nickelback Nate Hobbs.

Most signs say he’s on the right track. After a rookie season where he graded out as one of the worst cornerbacks in the league, Bennett ranked 39^th out of 293 cornerbacks to play in the preseason by Pro Football Focus’ metrics.

“I feel a lot different having that experience, going through last year, learning from the guys that were in front of me last year and just what they were doing,” Bennett said. “I’m confident, feeling good, body feeling good, mind feeling good, I’m ready to roll.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or