The Las Vegas Raiders 2023 season is almost here, and the silver and black crew is looking to get back to the playoffs after a disappointing 6-11 2022 campaign. It won’t be easy for new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and his team. The AFC is loaded, and the AFC West may be the toughest division in the NFL. Before the Raiders’ Week 1 showdown with the Denver Broncos, let’s make some bold predictions for the upcoming campaign.

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4. The Raiders defense will come back

Say what you want about Derek Carr, Darren Waller’s attitude, Hunter Renfrow’s injuries, or Josh McDaniels' play calling, but the biggest reason the Raiders underperformed last season was the defense.

The Raiders had the No. 12 scoring offense last season and the No. 26 scoring defense. That unit gave up the fifth-most yards in the league and had the second-worst turnover percentage. The pass rush was terrible — despite signing Chandler Jones — the linebackers were inexperienced, and the secondary was thin.

This offseason, the Raiders went heavy on the defensive line in the draft and now have one of the deeper units in the AFC. The linebackers are generally the same, but with another year of experience, and the secondary is much improved with Marcus Epps, Brandon Facyson, Marcus Peters, and David Long Jr. all coming in as free agents.

The bold Raiders prediction here for the 2023 season is that the defense will jump more than 10 spots and become a top-half NFL unit and maybe even a top-third one if the next Raiders prediction comes true.

3. Maxx Crosby will win Defensive Player of the Year

Maxx Crosby seems like he’s been terrorizing NFL quarterbacks for the Raiders forever, but in reality, he’s only going into his fifth NFL season.

In 2022, Crosby had a career year, putting up 12.5 sacks and leading the league with 22 tackles for a loss. If the secondary can hold onto their men longer and Chandler Jones and first-round pick Tyree Wilson can give a better pass-rush on the other side, Crosby could explode to another level in the coming months.

Winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year will be tough. The competition is fierce with some of the incredible individual defenders around the league. Last year, despite his team’s lack of success, Crosby finished sixth in DPOY voting, though, behind winner Nick Bosa, Micah Parsons, Chris Jones, Haason Reddick, and Myles Garrett.

With an even better Raiders season, a little luck, and his tenacious rush skills, Crosby can (and will!) win the coveted award in 2023.

2. Aidan O’Connell will be a major factor in the Raiders’ 2023 season

After the positive Raiders predictions that the defense overall will be better and Maxx Crosby will be incredible, it’s time to pour a little cold water on the season.

Jimmy Garoppolo is an above-average NFL QB. He is likely somewhere just outside the top 10, but definitely in the top 16… when healthy. And that is ultimately the problem. Jimmy G rarely stays healthy for an entire season. When he does, his team usually goes far. When he doesn’t, it’s often not great.

Garoppolo appeared in 57 of a potential 98 games for the 49ers. When healthy, he made one Super Bowl and two NFC Championship games. When hurt, the team often missed the playoffs.

The good news here is that the Raiders may have drafted the most NFL-ready signal-caller in the 2023 NFL Draft. The team took Purdue passer Aidan O’Connell in the fourth round, and he was the best rookie QB in the preseason.

With Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury history, it’s a good bet that O’Connell will factor into the season in a major way, which makes this less of a bold Raiders prediction and more of a sad guarantee.

1. Las Vegas will get back to the playoffs

Josh McDaniels missed the playoffs in his first season with the Raiders but didn’t do something rash — like draft Tim Tebow in the first round — as he did with the Broncos. The Raiders simply made smart moves this offseason and improved the team, and that is why they will make it back to the playoffs in 2023.

Yes, the AFC West is brutal, and the AFC as a whole is even tougher. That said, the AFC playoff picture likely has room for a second team from the East, North, and West divisions. Las Vegas will have to beat out the Los Angeles Chargers in order to make the postseason, and that is an attainable feat.

McDaniels will have to run a tight ship and keep the team from doing Raiders-y things that historically seem to doom the team, but with this squad that is absolutely possible.