Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 | 2 a.m.
A day before he was ultimately fired as the Raiders’ coach, Antonio Pierce described one upcoming meeting as “critical” to set the team on the right path heading into the offseason.
Pierce said he, general manager Tom Telesco (who was also fired four days later) and owner Mark Davis must sit down and “really look at” all the veterans whose current contracts expired at the end of the 2024-2025 season.
“It’s got to make dollars and sense for everybody, not just the Raiders, but for the players as well, understanding the business side of that,” Pierce said. “But these gentlemen, I thought all year, played their tails off. Some are deserving of a (new) contract, and others we probably have to move on from.”
Pierce and Telesco won’t contribute anymore, but those player personnel decisions still loom every bit as large as the coaching and general manager searches for their replacements currently grabbing all the attention.
Las Vegas has 27 players hitting free agency at the start of the new league year on March 12, including a whopping 18 who started at least one game over the last two seasons.
The new, to-be-announced coach/general manager duo, along with Davis and minority owner Tom Brady, must pick the right ones to bring back to set the team up for success going into the 2025-2026 season.
Here are five free agents they should prioritize keeping in silver and black.
Edge rusher Malcolm Koonce
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce (51) runs off the field at halftime of an NFL preseason football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Aug. 10, 2024, in Minneapolis.
The Raiders added 14 players to injured reserve over the course of last season, but Pierce said the first hurt the worst. The 26-year-old Koonce tore his ACL in practice three days before the Raiders’ first game, and Pierce felt the defense never recovered.
The former third-round pick out of the University of Buffalo broke out at the end of the 2023-2024 season with six sacks in four games, and Pierce was convinced Koonce would be even better this season. Koonce can still hit his sky-high potential, and now he can do it on a cheaper deal coming off an injury.
It’s a cruel reality but the Raiders might not have been able to afford Koonce if he played well this season. They might have needed to spend capital elsewhere with superstar Maxx Crosby and former first-round pick Tyree Wilson already at Koonce’s position.
But now Koonce figures to be affordable, and his upside remains intact despite the disappointment of missing so much time.
Edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson
Crosby has made some rumblings on his podcast The Rush that he might be unhappy and looking to move teams this offseason. If that happens, locking up Chaisson to rotate with Koonce and Wilson next year is a no-brainer.
Even if things are smoothed over with Crosby, Chaisson should still be a candidate to return for a second season with the Raiders. A team can never have enough competent edge rushers in the modern NFL, especially a team stuck in the treacherous AFC West.
Chaisson showed he can be more than that in silver and black with five sacks, a forced fumble, an interception and two passes defended. It’s hard to believe Chaisson was considered a bust after being taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, considering the way he played this season.
Las Vegas gave him a third chance and cashed in. Jacksonville declined to exercise Chaisson’s fifth-year rookie option last year and then Carolina cut him out of training camp.
But some highly-talented players just need to find the right place, and Las Vegas looks like the right place for Chaisson.
Linebacker Divine Deablo
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. (7) gets tackled by Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo (5) during the second half of a NFL game at Allegiant Stadium Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024.
Las Vegas’ top two linebackers from the past two years, Deablo and Robert Spillane, are both set to hit free agency.
Spillane is the more decorated player as he broke out in Las Vegas especially in the 2023-2024 season, where he was a team captain and might have deserved to be a Pro Bowler. But Spillane is also more athletically limited than Deablo, older and will merit a larger contract.
Las Vegas needs to rebuild through youth, and locking up a 29-year-old like Spillane—who might not fit in every scheme—with a multi-year deal seems unwise. The 26-year-old Deablo is just hitting his prime, and his coverage skills as a former safety at Virginia Tech make him the more versatile option.
Fans may miss Spillane’s intensity on game day, but he was the perfect fit with Pierce and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. That might not be the case with the new coaching staff.
Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao
In the Raiders’ penultimate victory of the season, three years’ worth of hard work with the franchise paid off for Pola-Mao, who emerged as the player of the game in a win over the Jaguars.
He became the first Raider since Hall of Famer Charles Woodson 25 years ago to force a pair of fumbles that led to takeaways in the same game. The former undrafted free agent out of USC spent much of his rookie season on the practice squad and then played mostly special teams in his second campaign.
But he got his shot on defense this year after starting strong safety Marcus Epps tore his ACL in Week 3. The drop-off from Epps to Pola-Mao wound up negligible, if not nonexistent.
Between Epps, fellow safety Tre’von Moehrig and slot cornerback Nate Hobbs, the Raiders have three higher-profile defensive back free agents than Pola-Mao. But both Moehrig and Hobbs discussed exploring their options and could command a big raise.
Pola-Mao will account for a much smaller portion of the salary cap, and could make a bigger impact.
Guard Jordan Meredith
Las Vegas Raiders guard Jordan Meredith (61) leaves the field after a 15-9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at Allegiant Stadium Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.
The Raiders’ interior offensive line improved dramatically later in the season when they stumbled upon the trio of Meredith at left guard, Jackson Powers-Johnson at center and Dylan Parham at right guard.
There’s no reason to mess with the combination going into next year. Parham still has a year left on his rookie deal while Powers-Johnson is signed through 2027, leaving Meredith the only question mark.
The former undrafted free agent Meredith had exclusively been a backup before this season so perhaps the Raiders envision upgrading to someone with stronger athletic traits. But even then, Meredith could be useful as a utility lineman ready to come in at any position—especially in the interior spots—in case of injury.
Like Chaisson and Pola-Mao, the 25-year-old Meredith is a promising player the Raiders helped develop this season. The organization should have some natural curiosity to see how far they can take him.
This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
