They can actually make the playoffs.

I know exactly what you're thinking when you clicked on this YouTube video. You're thinking it has to be a rage bait, it has to be somebody losing his mind and needing to check into a hospital. But no. I'm dead serious. I actually think there is a legitimate chance the Las Vegas Raiders make the playoffs. And not only do I think it's possible, the history says it's actually likely. Because take a look at this picture. Each of the last four seasons have had at least one team with a hundred to one or worse Super Bowl odds make the playoffs. First Things First has dubbed this as a deep sleeper. In each of the last four seasons there has been a team that has shocked the world and made the playoffs. And last year that team was none other than the team who won the AFC. Raiders far and away have the best quarterback of any of these guys. I think Ash Gente is going to be good even if I was a year early. They didn't trade away Max Crosby. I think that if you know I for all I don't think the Broncos and Chargers are going to be quite as good as everyone else. If I got to pick one of them and history says I do, again it's not predictions week, I think I'd go Raiders. So of course you have to accept this hypothesis for any of this to even be remotely close to happening. If you want to say well none of these people are actually going to make the playoffs so why are we even talking about this or making this video? That's fine. You can stop watching. But each of the last four seasons you would have said the exact same thing. There's always a shocker and why not the Raiders? Because if you look at each of the four teams here, the Dolphins, the Browns, the Cardinals, the Jets, the Raiders, and the Titans, I think you'd be hard-pressed to pick anybody but the Raiders. Because if you go down the line and start a quarterback, who's the best quarterback of the bunch? I think there's no denying that right now it's probably Kirk Cousins. How about the best offensive play caller? Pretty sure Clint Kubiak has that in the bag also. Take a roll call of all the elite or soon-to-be elite football players on each team and I think the Raiders went away with it with the likes of Max Crosby, Brock Bowers, Colton Miller, Tyler Linderbaum, and Ashton Gente. Now the issue with any of these teams making the playoffs this year other than the fact that they were not good last year is that they're all going to have really tough schedules because they're all not good football teams. Each game they play they're probably going to be underdogs or barely favored. The Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets play each other two times a year so that eliminates both of them from making the playoffs. You can pick one of them too but I don't expect them to beat the Bills or the Patriots a whole lot. The Browns are in the tough AFC North, the Cardinals are in the tough NFC West, and the Raiders are in the tough AFC East. If you go back to one of these teams having to make the playoffs you got to throw schedules out because every one of them is hard which brings you back to the teams. The Raiders had a 3-14 record last year but they have overhauled the roster. They have spent the most money of any team in the offseason in free agency and they've had a lot of successful draft picks last year and now this year as well. They have six starters from last year's team that are now backups to new starters and each of the last few seasons one of the deep sleepers have gone from either three or four wins. In 2023 it was the Texans that went from three wins to 10 wins. In 2024 it was the Commanders that went from four wins to 12 wins and in 2025 of course it was the Patriots that went from three wins to 14 wins. Now of course all of those teams had one thing in common a young quarterback that started right away or in Drake Mays case it was year two. The Raiders don't plan on right now starting Fernando Mendoza so maybe that hurts this hypothesis just a little bit. But Kirk Cousins is more than capable of winning games with the subpar roster. Case in point last year he went five and three into the Atlanta Falcons team who wasn't that great. But where those three teams that I've listed had the advantage of having a young quarterback this team has the advantage at one specific area and that's head coach. And if Linkubiak is as good as a lot of people around him seem to think he could be the Raiders can have that one thing that sneaks up on people that nobody's expecting. Players developing at a rapid pace that provide them the element of surprise. Kenneth Walker before Linkubiak's arrival in Seattle averaged 3.7 yards per carry. When Linkubiak got there it went up to 4.6. I expect the same to happen with Ashton Gente. We all know the massive leap that 1130 yards in 2024, 1790 yards in 2025. And what was the change there? Geno Smith and Sam Darnold definitely but also Linkubiak. And some people may be thinking yeah Linkubiak's going to open up the offense for Brock Bowers. No he's going to open up the offense for Trey Tucker who each year has exponentially grown in his offensive game. Last year had 700 receiving yards and five touchdowns with Geno Smith and Aiden O'Connell being the quarterback. Chip Kelly being fired halfway through the season. And the worst running attack in the National Football League. Expect Trey Tucker to sneak up on people having easy thousand yards this year. But what about the defense Rodney? The defense was so bad last year. No it wasn't. They were 14th in total defense. 14th overall in passing and 19th in scoring. They added two new linebackers They have a legitimate pass rush running mate opposite Max Crosby in former first round pick Quidi Pei. And their second round draft pick Trayden Stukes is already pushing Isaiah Polamau out of the starting safety spot to match up with Jeremy Chin. Now this isn't a prediction video. This isn't me saying the Raiders are going to make the playoffs. When I drop my official playoff predictions they won't be in it. They're a six to eight win team at the very best. But history tells us there's always a team that shocks the world and makes the playoffs. Especially with almost half the teams making the playoffs. 14 out of 32. And if you go down the list of everything I just said. If you look at all the teams that have 100 to 1 or worse Super Bowl odds. The only right answer is the Las Vegas Raiders. So if and when they make the playoffs. Let's not throw our hands up and be so shocked. Because it's the numbers that didn't lie. It's the history that told us so. And it was this video that said it first.