The Las Vegas Raiders may not have won a preseason game, but it was a successful preseason when you factor in everything we, and they, have now found out. That's what the preseason is for -- figuring a few things out and checking some things off of the checklist. They did that with the quarterback battle, and will now have to take their roster from 90 players to 53.
With losses to the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys, and basically a loss to the San Francisco 49ers as the two teams tied, the Raiders were still able to find positives, especially when it was time to watch some of their key players play.
There are three players in particular, who may or may not have had questions about them coming into this season, and I feel like I can truly say they will have great seasons now after watching them in the preseason.
3 Raiders who will have a good 2024 season
Jack Jones, CB
This one may seem like an easy one to Raider Nation, but from the outside looking in, I still think people don't realize how good Jones is. I mean, he is a 74 overall on Madden for crying out loud. The dude does it all, and we saw in training camp he not only returned kickoffs, but also kicked the ball on kickoffs, and did good at both.
Then, against the Vikings, he goes and gets a very nice interception where he baited J.J. McCarthy to throw the ball. He hasn't played much this preseason, but it's evident that if he can stay healthy, this is his year. This is a true breakout year.
Jakorian Bennett, CB
When the offseason hit, everyone immediately started to ask who was going to be CB2 for the 2024 season. And, the whole time, the Raiders secondary was saying JB, as if they knew that the whole time. And, they did, because they had seen the work Bennett has put in, and when we saw it during training camp, and even the preseason, man, he looked good.
Against the Vikings, he had a play where he batted down a potential touchdown pass on fourth and goal and saved the drive. Against the Cowboys, he stuck with a receiver in press man and was glued to his hip with nowhere to go. These are just a few plays, but you can see it. I think we see a much better season from him in year two than we did in year one.
Michael Mayer, TE
Based on the little we did see from tight end Michael Mayer, I think this is a safe pick. Mayer was already much more involved in this offense than he ever was with the prior offense, and he was good. You add in the pieces around him, a quarterback who likes to throw to the tight end, and he could have a pretty big season.
Related: Raiders 53-man roster prediction after game with 49ers: Day three draft picks and UDFAs lock in spots
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