Sorry for the long wait guys. Typically, I post "Season in Review" posts during playoff football, but I had too much on my plate for the entire month of January. Anyway, welcome in to your Season in Review post for the 2019 Oakland Raiders. As everybody knows now, they're now officially the Las Vegas Raiders as of this year. It doesn't roll out the tongue quite well yet, but we'll see where it goes.
The Raiders welcomed the Gruden-Mayock era with a 7-9 record. If we can infer from last season, Jon Gruden is rebuilding this team under his own image. The controversial Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper trades are evident of that. Mike Mayock comes in from a TV gig and succeeds Reggie McKenzie as the Raiders' new GM. For the most part, the offseason and draft was solid to start. They snagged offensive tackle Trent Brown and veteran guard Richie Incognito to shore up the O-line. And the draft was also solid as they picked up Clelin Ferrell, Josh Jacobs, Johnathan Abram, Trayvon Mullen, Maxx Crosby, and Hunter Renfrow to set the foundation. We also saw huge strides from individuals. Darren Waller was the most prominent with a 1,000 yard season as a Tight End.
Despite a solid rebuild, they've had their shares of bumps on the road and most of it was detrimental to the team's progress. We'll never forget the clown show that was Antonio Brown. The Raiders brought him in to be Derek Carr's go-to-guy and he clowned himself out of the league. Abram got hurt on opening night. Trent Brown was in and out due to injury. The NFL suspended Vontaze Burfict indefinitely after a "dirty" hit in the Colts game. The team found themselves back in square one: a team that was devoid of talent.
Surprisingly though, this team showed a bit of fight in them and opening night's win against Denver showed the potential of what they would become. They exonerated Gruden from blame for the Khalil Mack trade in a 24-21 comeback win vs. the Bears in Week 5 and prior to that, they snagged a win in Indianapolis for a bounceback win. As much of a joke the AFC wild card race was (negated by Tennessee's improbable playoff run), the Raiders hung around that race and at one point, were neck and neck with the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC West. Unfortunately, this team was overmatched against more of the better teams in the league. That doomed their playoff push. Also, I can't forget about that soul-crushing loss to the Jags in the last home game in Oakland in Week 15. That game goes beyond an undeserved playoff spot. They let a city and community down and they just made Oakland fans more pissed off as this team transitions to Sin City.
Now that's over with, let's evaluate the state of this team as they relocate. As I mentioned before, just because this team is moving doesn't mean that their fortunes will change at the blink of an eye. But, they do have to make Las Vegas' investment worth it. The city took a chance on them despite an ugly past decade, brand new shiny stadium and all. The product must improve. And quite frankly, this team still has a lot glaring holes despite a few good pieces. If I can summarize this team, Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, and Maxx Crosby are guys that are legit. Trayvon Mullen flashed some potential. Clelin Ferrell was a little disappointing. But, he can improve. I saw a lot of comparisons of Ferrell's production to Khalil Mack's rookie season production. Even if Mack didn't flash, opposing teams knew to gameplan for him because he can wreck a game. I didn't see that in Ferrell. I didn't think offensive coordinators respected him and he's a top 5 pick. As I mentioned, he's a good player, but not worth a high pick. Teams typically invest in a top 5 pick on someone who can be a franchise-changing player, not invest for need. The Ferrell pick stands as that, but we'll wait and see what a player he'll be in 3 years.
Then, you have the Derek Carr conundrum. At this point of his career, DC is a polarizing figure among Raider Nation. Yes, he's better than what the Raiders had in years past, but he's not living up to be that franchise quarterback. When you think about in retrospect, the Raiders invested big time in the offense for 6 years to surround Carr with talent, but he has failed in making the most out of it. I heard from a fellow Raider fan that "no quarterback has a perfect bed to sleep on." And that's true. The great quarterbacks find ways to make the team better in a bad situation. And we didn't see a great quarterback in Carr at this point of his career. Yes, he's had two 4,000+ passing yards season in Gruden's system, but honestly, how many of those games were the Raiders competitive in? Despite the criticism, Carr gets one shot in Vegas and the stars are aligning for him. He's playing in a dome now, so he'll deal with less bad weather. The talent is expected to improve. But, if he still can't get it done, he and his apologists are out of excuses.
In closing, this team needs to know how to get better. For the last 14 seasons, NFL teams get better, but the Raiders find ways to take two steps back in the revolving door of deconstruction and rebuilding. If they want to be up to par to where the Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs are, this franchise has to wake up and get right. I hope they do. But realistically speaking, they have a long ways to go. Luckily, they're starting off right with two first round picks in 2020. However, you can have all the draft capital in the world, but it won't mean much if you can't develop them. Have fun with this team Las Vegas. The investment in this team better be worth it.
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