After the Jon Gruden era ended in ignominious fashion, the Raiders tried again with another marquee name in Josh McDaniels, but his tenure lasted just 25 games after he was shown the door midway though last season. Antonio Pierce took over and seemed to rally the players around a new identity that has bred optimism for 2024. Pierce's 5-3 run included home wins over struggling Giants, Jets, Broncos and Chargers teams, but the signature moment came in Week 16 when the Raiders went into Kansas City and toppled the eventual champions thanks to an incredible effort from the defense that featured two touchdowns from that side of the ball.

The question is whether that will translate into enough to success to beat their win total for a second straight year and potentially make a run to the playoffs. The defense looks like it's maturing into one of the better units in the league, so most of the questions stem from the offense. Luke Getsy inherits a quarterback competition between Aidan O'Connell, who made 10 starts as a fourth-round rookie and held his own with a 5-5 record, and Gardner Minshew, who flashed the ability that helped make him an immediate sensation as a sixth-round rookie with the Jaguars in 2019 by leading the Colts to a 7-6 record and the cusp of the playoffs after the team lost its starting quarterback.

The other main question is with Pierce himself, who must prove his success in 2023 wasn't a schedule-aided flash in the pan. He certainly has the buy-in from his players and now management following an offseason coaching search that resulted in him being named the man for the job. He's the wild card in a division with teams coached by proven winners in Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh, and how his team rises up to the challenge in those divisional matchups should tell us a lot about his long-term potential as the leader of this team.

Below, we'll go through the futures and win total markets for the 2024 Las Vegas Raiders, sharing odds from major U.S. and Nevada sportsbooks as well as the SportsLine Projection Model forecast for each betting market. We'll then take a look through the schedule, share my power ratings line projections for every game and note any rest or travel advantages or disadvantages to remember. Then we'll examine the changes to the depth chart and what the effect of each could be, before wrapping up with our early forecast of what to expect from this team in 2024.

What are the key factors to consider before locking in Las Vegas Raiders futures bets? And how does the SportsLine Projection Model see the season going? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Raiders betting strategy from the expert who's 636-534-34 on ATS picks from 2017-23, returning $4,899 to $100 players!