The Raiders may be building their own thing under John Spytek and Klint Kubiak, but there’s a reason some eyes keep drifting toward New Orleans. The 2025 Saints offered a pretty clear example of how a team can start slow, lean into a rookie quarterback, and finish with real momentum. That’s exactly why Las Vegas fans will be paying close attention when the Raiders head to Caesars Superdome in Week 3.
New Orleans didn’t just stumble into that shape. After the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl to end the 2024 season, the Saints hired Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
They also spent premium draft capital on Tyler Shough, much like Las Vegas did with Fernando Mendoza. The setup was familiar enough, and the results started to turn once Shough entered the lineup midway through the year.
New Orleans went 5-4 with him at quarterback, closing with four wins in its final five games.
That late surge left the Saints with plenty of optimism and the No. 8 overall pick. The expectation now is that they’ll be in the mix for the division title and maybe more in 2026.
For the Raiders, that makes this early-season trip more than just another road game. It’s a chance to see what a similar path can look like when it starts to click.
To get a clearer picture of what Las Vegas is walking into, we spoke with Darrion Gray of WhoDatDish, FanSided’s Saints site. His answers painted a team with real upside, but not without a few areas the Raiders could attack.
Gray said the mood in New Orleans is unusually upbeat.
"This is the most optimistic the Saints have felt going into a season since the Derek Carr signing. That quickly crashed and burned, but this situation is much different. Instead of being excited about the introduction of a new quarterback, the excitement stems from what Tyler Shough has already shown in a Saints uniform."
That confidence extends to the way the Saints are thinking about their roster. Gray pointed to two offseason moves as the biggest ones: signing Travis Etienne and drafting Jordyn Tyson. He said Etienne gives Kellen Moore another way to win, while Tyson could change the feel of the offense entirely.
"I have to cheat on this one. The biggest move the Saints made is a bit of a tie between signing Travis Etienne and drafting Jordyn Tyson.
Kellen Moore recently talked about how the best teams are able to win in multiple ways, and Etienne allows the Saints to do that. Drafting Tyson makes the offense 10x more exciting.
It gives the Saints the potential for two No. 1 receivers and one of the more dynamic offenses in the league."
There are still questions, though, and one of them sits right where the Raiders would want it to. Gray called run defense a lingering concern, noting that Vernon Broughton and Christen Miller are both inexperienced and may need time to settle in. That could matter a lot with Ashton Jeanty on the other side.
"Run defense is still a question mark. They made some additions that could help, but Vernon Broughton and Christen Miller are still extremely inexperienced options.
The Saints attempted to address the weakness, but it may take some time before Miller, the rookie, and Broughton, who essentially missed his entire rookie season, get their feet underneath them on the professional level. With Ashton Jeanty on the other side, this is the part of the game that could get Las Vegas the win."
Gray also flagged Chase Young as a name to watch. He said Young’s first double-digit sack season, which came despite him missing the first five games, hasn’t gotten enough attention outside New Orleans. If that level holds, Young could be a major problem for opposing offenses.
"The rise of Chase Young really isn’t getting a lot of attention outside of New Orleans. He just recorded his first double-digit sack campaign despite missing the first 5 games of the season.
He became a dominant force at times. If that continues into next season, he could genuinely be a game wrecker for the Saints' defense."
Not every major Saints question has a clean answer yet. Gray said Tyree Wilson’s offseason work has been hard to judge because it has mostly been 7-on-7, and he expects Wilson to be a fourth man in the rotation with high upside under Brandon Staley. He also said his gut says Alvin Kamara is still a Saint in 2026, though he called the situation a toss-up because of the bad blood that seems to have formed from New Orleans’ side.
For the Raiders, all of that adds up to a useful early test. The Saints look like a team with momentum, firepower and a few cracks underneath the surface. That’s the kind of opponent that can tell you a lot about where Las Vegas stands.
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