What We Learned at the NFL Combine about the Raiders

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.--The Las Vegas Raiders came into Indianapolis on a mission for both the future and the present.

As we depart the 2025 NFL Combine, here are some things we learned about the Silver and Black from this event.

Before the arrival of Dave Ziegler, and subsequently Champ Kelly and Tom Telesco, the Raiders were run from the top as gamblers, not investors.
That works occasionally, but when you look at the best franchises year-over-year, they run as investors, not gamblers.
To Tom Brady and John Spytek's credit, they will continue the investors' rather than gamblers' mentality.
They will be very aggressive when they know what they want and how they value it, but they also understand team building. We saw with the Matthew Stafford dalliance that they valued and wanted him.
The Raiders would invest $100 million into the Rams quarterback, but they were unwilling to mortgage the future for a two-year solution at QB.
They could have had Stafford, regardless of his desire to return for family reasons, if they had unnecessarily gambled the future by dealing a first-round pick. The Rams were players and willing to negotiate.
The Raiders are thorough. They looked at and investigated nearly every quarterback here at the combine.
They made it abundantly clear to anyone who would listen they were in a win-now mandate.
We told you for several months that this is NOT a rebuild, and they confirmed our reporting.
Like every other team, the Raiders are limited by a salary cap. But thanks to previous regimes, Spytek has a lot of money in the checkbook.
I don't see any way they can keep them all, and they won't, but they want to keep many of them and still be investors with others.
There was a lot of talk from other teams at the combine about the rash of injuries that the Raiders sustained.
I do not have the wisdom to judge the strength and conditioning quality, but we have been reporting for some time. I expect Tom Brady to go through that department of the Silver and Black with a fine-tooth comb.
More than one team mentioned to me the fact that every team has their injuries, but year-over-year, it seems to happen, "more to those damned Raiders. It's like they are snake bit and must look at that."
I have praised Nate Hobbs as both a person and a player, but there are legitimate concerns about the number of injuries. However, while not all the teams I spoke to, several think a new strength and conditioning program could assist him and are not as concerned as others.
It is fascinating watching how the new Raiders regime is approaching the prospects.
At first, they were selling the fact that everyone would compete. I heard that early. But, as the week went on, I saw it more as if they were warning players.
The Raiders are trying to warn everyone that if you aren't willing to compete for and about everything, this is not a franchise you want to play for.
That mentality will differentiate the players, which is brilliant.
I don't care who you are. From a UDFA to a first-round pick, the best players who win the reps will play.
That subtle change of mentality was a big deal.
Many, including myself, saw some people playing when others should have.
That is pure Tom Brady, and Spytek mentality, even though he is already a seasoned surefire Hall of Fame coach, Pete Carroll.
Many people from around the NFL were surprised to learn how quickly Pete Carroll and John Spytek have become on the same page.
Pete is well respected inside and outside the NFL. While not known outside the NFL, Spytek was and is well respected inside. Both men share the same mentality of competing and winning, and it speaks to their character that they have swallowed any possible pride issues and are on the same page about the Raiders' winning.
One NFL executive told me that one of the men, when speaking of the other, told him, "He's great and I couldn't have picked a better partner."
While that executive would not tell me who said it, what is being said privately is the same message. The Raiders are clearly on the same page.
The Raiders' investing and not gambling mentality, combined with their aggression when they are sold, will make them fascinating to watch in both free agency and the NFL Draft.
The Raiders will now have the financial value they place on a free agent but won't be willing to overpay.
You saw that with Stafford when they were willing to pay more than anyone, but they weren't willing to mortgage the future with a first-round pick, especially where it was at, and they held their ground.
How does that equate to their current roster of free agents? They would love to have the vast majority back, but if others are willing to overpay, they won't overpay to keep them.
How important is being a Raider to these young men?
There is zero sense of panic from the franchise about the quarterback. I know that Raider Nation is undoubtedly worried, but they look at this as a marathon, not a sprint. They are building a long-term, sustained franchise, which means line upon line and precept upon precept, and they will make sure that this team doesn't become a cyclical every four-year playoff team. They want to be there and in the hunt every year. They are building that way.
The Raiders spent a massive amount of time with players who played the game with a ferocious mentality.
I asked one executive of an NFC team what he thought about who the Raiders were talking to. He had two interesting answers. "First I would say it is very clear that quarterback is at the top of their mind, I think they talked mostly to everybody." He added, "Secondly they went for specific players, I mean the fighters, scrapers, the guys that love the game and fight and play like it."
Another thing that stood out to me was how the Raiders were received. The Raiders are the Raiders; they have always been a topic, but this year was another story. The word that I heard multiple times from multiple people was stability. One former Raider said, "I am happy for Mark (Davis) that they now have stability. They have had some good people for sure, but now they have them, good qualified people at every leadership position, and that has been desperately needed."
Several people told me they think the Raiders will still kick tires on trades, but as one said, "I don't think just at quarterback. Once they get their free agents worked out, I think before the NFL Draft, during it, and even after they will be aggressive traders. I think we are going to see that from the Raiders now."
That will be interesting to observe.

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