Las Vegas Raiders

To hear Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis tell it, head coach Josh McDaniels may be around for the entirety of the four-year contract he signed with the team ahead of the 2022 campaign.

"As far as Josh goes, I have no issues," Davis said, per Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I'm getting to know him a lot better. When you sign someone to a contract, don't you expect him to fulfill the contract?"

The Raiders are 2-7, but Davis said the head coach is "doing a fantastic job. That's why I hired him. We did an exhaustive search and found the person we believe is going to bring the Raiders to greatness."

Jeff Howe of The Athletic noted that McDaniels has nothing to worry about this year:

There is something to be said about giving a new head coach time to build relationships with his players and to promote continuity, but Las Vegas is arguably the most disappointing team in the league at this point.

It made the playoffs a season ago and proceeded to add star wide receiver Davante Adams, elevating expectations even in a loaded AFC West division with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Russell Wilson quarterbacking the three other teams.

Rather than living up to those expectations, the Raiders have lost three in a row and essentially fallen out of the playoff race with nearly half the season remaining. Things might not get much better in the immediate future either with four of the next six on the road.

They also still play contenders in the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.

But Davis is keeping his eye on the bigger picture.

"Life isn't static," he said. "It's fluid. You want to win at the end of the year and be the one holding the trophy. Obviously, we're not there yet. I know it's frustrating for the fanbase. I feel for them. I'm a fan as well."

McDaniels may have the vote of confidence, but his track record as a head coach isn't exactly inspiring. He led the Broncos for two seasons in 2009 and 2010 and posted an 11-17 record, which is a far cry from the success he found as an offensive coordinator on Bill Belichick's staff with the Patriots.

For now, the Raiders are practicing patience. But they would surely like to see the wins start to add up at some point.

The Las Vegas Raiders reached a new low on Sunday, losing to an Indianapolis Colts team that has an interim head coach who had never led a college or NFL team prior to the game.

Jeff Saturday, whose coaching experience didn't go beyond the high school level, outcoached Josh McDaniels as the Colts defeated the Raiders 25-20. With the loss, Las Vegas fell to 2-7 this season.

Saturday had been working as an ESPN analyst prior to being hired to replace Frank Reich. When Saturday took over, the team didn't have an experienced play-caller on its coaching staff after the firing of offensive coordinator Marcus Brady.

In his coaching debut, Saturday provided Indianapolis with an identity on both sides of the ball centered around the run game. The Colts totaled 207 yards on the ground while limiting the Raiders to just 77 rushing yards. Star running back Jonathan Taylor led the way with 147 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

NFL Twitter unleashed on the Raiders for their upset loss to the Colts and their first-time head coach on Sunday:

The Raiders were expected to be one of the more competitive teams in the AFC after the acquisition of star wide receiver Davante Adams. However, the team's offense hasn't clicked, the defense hasn't been strong, either, and McDaniels may be on the hot seat just nine games into his tenure as Raiders head coach.

Las Vegas will look to bounce back when it visits the Denver Broncos (3-6) in a division matchup next Sunday.

This isn't how the season was supposed to go for the Las Vegas Raiders.

After all, they are coming off a playoff appearance and added one of the best wide receivers in the league in Davante Adams during the offseason. The expectation was to challenge for the top spot in the AFC West, but they are instead 2-6 and trending in the wrong direction.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported they placed tight end Darren Waller and wide receiver Hunter Renfrow on injured reserve and provided additional context to the setbacks:

Yet trouble for the Raiders on the field could mean opportunity for fantasy football players looking to pounce.

Adams has, at times, been less than his typically stellar self this season. He posted one catch for three yards in a Week 8 loss to the New Orleans Saints, five catches for 36 yards in a Week 3 loss to the Tennessee Titans and two catches for 12 yards in a Week 2 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Perhaps fantasy football managers with Adams on their team have grown frustrated with the roller-coaster ride of a season that seems to change on a weekly basis and could be looking to make a trade.

If that is the case in your league, jump on it.

Adams' resume includes five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro selections, and he finished the 2021 season with 123 catches for 1,553 yards and 11 touchdowns. Few players in the league have a higher ceiling than him, and he has still put up monster numbers on at times.

One of those performances came in the most recent game when he tallied 10 catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns on an astounding 17 targets in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He figures to see even more targets with Renfrow and Waller sidelined and could reach the 1,300-yard mark for the fourth time in five years with 658 through eight games.

Fantasy players should be looking for any way possible to buy low on Adams in a trade, but more caution should be used with Carr.

While he surpassed 4,000 passing yards in each of the last four seasons, he has thrown for more than 300 yards in a game just once this year and has two games with fewer than 200 passing yards.

Now, he is losing two of his top targets for at least the next four games, so it is unrealistic to expect a drastic upward tick in production.

This may be the first time since 2017 he fails to reach the 4,000-yard mark through the air, and he isn't a running threat, either. Given the lack of rushing yards and his downturn in the passing game, look elsewhere when seeking quarterback trades.

Las Vegas Raiders stars Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller are having polar-opposite offensive campaigns through the first half of the 2022 season. So how should fantasy football managers view them with fantasy trade deadlines quickly approaching?

Jacobs is enjoying a strong campaign, ranking fourth in the NFL with 743 rushing yards and tying for fifth with six touchdowns on 138 carries. He's on pace to shatter last season's output of 872 yards and nine scores, as well as surpass his career high of 1,150 rushing yards set in 2019, his rookie year.

The 24-year-old has developed into the focal point of the Raiders offense alongside an inconsistent passing attack. Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr hasn't exactly been lighting it up through the air (No. 13 passing attack), even with prized offseason acquisition Davante Adams on the outside, giving Jacobs more opportunities to shine.

Fantasy managers who have Jacobs should feel good about their chances heading toward the playoffs. The best course is likely to hold on to him and ride him to postseason success, but it could also be wise to sell high at the trade deadline, especially if dealing from a position of strength.

With Jacobs performing at the level of an RB1, a trade involving him should garner a player of equal value, perhaps at a different position, or managers could choose to flip Jacobs for a pair of lesser players who fill needs.

As for Waller, there won't be much value coming back in a trade for him. He hasn't lived up to TE1 expectations, recording just 16 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown through five appearances this year.

To make matters worse, the Raiders placed the star tight end on injured reserve Thursday because of the strained left hamstring that has caused him to miss the last three games.

With Waller set to miss at least four more weeks, it will be hard to convince another manager to take him off your hands. The 2020 Pro Bowl selection can be stashed until he returns in hopes he'll bounce back over the final five games, or he can be dropped if you need to make room on your roster.

The Las Vegas Raiders are reportedly releasing safety Johnathan Abram on Tuesday, per the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.

According to Rapoport, the Raiders shopped Abram ahead of the trade deadline but didn't find any suitors.

The move doesn't come as a major shock, as the former first-round pick had been falling out of favor in Las Vegas.

He's also yet another recent first-round selection who hasn't really panned out for the Raiders, a further indictment of the Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock era:

After playing just one game in his rookie season in 2019 because of a torn rotator cuff and labrum, the Mississippi State product posted solid counting stats in the 2020 (86 tackles, two interceptions) and 2021 seasons (116 tackles, one interception).

The 26-year-old has 48 tackles this year through eight games (six starts).

Abram was given ample opportunity to prove himself this season, with the Raiders playing him all over the field, at points utilizing him in both safety roles, as a linebacker, cornerback and nickelback.

It appeared the team was happy with how he was handling the variety of roles asked of him.

"He's a smart guy," head coach Josh McDaniels told reporters in September. "I mean, we put a lot on him. He's been able to handle the duality of the multiple roles that we've given him. He's a big cog in terms of the overall communication on the defense."

But apparently, those feelings changed, and his time in Las Vegas has come to a close.

He'll now hit waivers and owed about $1 million in base salary for the remainder of the season. The Raiders had declined the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, so he'll be a free agent after the 2022 season.

The Raiders will be expected to turn to a starting safety pair of Tre'von Moehrig and Duron Harmon following Abram's release.

The Las Vegas Raiders aren't looking to make a coaching change despite their 2-6 start, according to CBS Sports HQ's Josina Anderson.

Anderson reported Monday that head coach Josh McDaniels is "safe" and that "no one is panicking."

Team owner Mark Davis reaffirmed his commitment to McDaniels on Oct. 31, telling reporters he expected the coach to remain with the team "for years to come."

The fact that McDaniels' job security is already a storyline speaks for itself, though.

The Raiders won 10 games and made the playoffs in 2021 despite head coach Jon Gruden resigning in the middle of the season after emails surfaced in which he used racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language.

First-year general manager Dave Ziegler proceeded to add Davante Adams and Chandler Jones this offseason as a clear sign of ambition.

This is a squad that should be contending in the AFC West, not sitting in last place, and the circumstances behind some of Las Vegas' defeats have compounded the frustration. Throwing away one lead late in a game can be chalked up as bad luck. When it happens multiple times, you have to start looking at the coaches.

And McDaniels only being in his first season isn't much of an excuse when the New York Giants' Brian Daboll and the Minnesota Vikings' Kevin O'Connell both have their teams on pace to make the playoffs.

When the Raiders hired McDaniels, the hope was that he had learned from his two seasons as head coach of the Denver Broncos. He had an 11-17 record in Denver and didn't make it all the way through his second year.

McDaniels was just 33 when he got the job, and he acknowledged later he simply wasn't ready at that stage of his coaching career.

Now, it's fair to wonder whether the years he spent back with the New England Patriots did anything to make him more suited for a head coaching role.

As much as the Raiders appear to be behind McDaniels right now, Davis might have his resolve tested if their slump continues over the next few weeks.