Could the Las Vegas Raiders have a top-five offense in football?

What if the Las Vegas Raiders do have a top-five offense in football?

2020 marks a new era of Raiders football.

The NFL‘s rebel franchise has moved from the Bay Area to Sin City to become the Las Vegas Raiders. It was a smart and strategic move for the Silver and Black to relocate for a third time in franchise history. By playing in Southern Nevada, players will not be subjected to state income tax, their dollar will go further and marquee free agents will line up to play for a team in Las Vegas.

Entering 2020, the Raiders have the feel of a fringe playoff team. Though they aren’t good enough to overtake the arch rival Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West standings, the Silver and Black can totally be one of three AFC Wild Card teams this season. They’re getting better under third-year head coach Jon Gruden, but could the Raiders have a top-five offense in the league?

Standout tight end Darren Waller thinks so. He said a ton of positive things about the Raiders offense going forward on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday. Waller is a believer, but should we be drinking the Raiders’ top-five offensive Kool-Aid?

“If you look at things across the board, starting with the offensive line and the quarterback, with improvement at the receiver positions and the tight ends trying to be consistent, I think our offense has a chance to do a lot of great things and put up a lot of great numbers,” said Waller.

“The big thing for us is finishing in the red zone this year. I know that we’re doing everything in our power to improve upon that. I don’t feel like having a top five offense is out of the picture.”

“We have that much talent. We have guys who are buying in. We have a balanced system. I have high expectations, and I think everyone on the offense would say the same thing.”

Is the Las Vegas Raiders having a top-five offense a real possibility?

There are a lot of things working in the Raiders’ favor this year for that lofty goal of Waller’s to be achievable. Most importantly, the Silver and Black have a firm offensive identity and that is to run the football with Josh Jacobs behind that big, and expensive, offensive line of theirs. The Raiders have had a great offensive line for years, and now they’ve got a bell-cow back to make it happen.

Gruden is a great offensive-minded coach, and one who lives to pound the rock to open up the play-action pass. Derek Carr may have his limitations as a high-end starting quarterback in the league at this point, but he’s good enough to thrive in this offense. If he can’t, the Raiders can just insert general manager Mike Mayock‘s guy in free-agent signing Marcus Mariota to get it done.

Mayock has drafted brilliantly the last two years. In the 2019 NFL Draft, he netted the Raiders key contributors in Jacobs, wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and defensive ends Clelin Ferrell and Maxx Crosby. He added players like wide receiver Henry Ruggs III out of Alabama and last year’s Paul Hornung Award winner in Lynn Bowden Jr. out of Kentucky. There is a lot of upside with them.

So could the Raiders have a top-five offense in the league? It sounds crazy, but it just might happen. They’re going to need Jacobs to become the AFC West version of Dalvin Cook. Carr, or Mariota, will need to play some of their best ball of their NFL careers. The offensive line needs to stay healthy and the Las Vegas receiving corps and tight end room needs to flourish triumphantly.

Top-five feels like a bit of a stretch, but the Raiders offense certainly looks to be on the rise.