It's been awhile since I've posted here. In fact, there's not much to talk about with the entire of sports canceled and everyone's in quarantine. But lucky for us, the NFL offseason has kept us entertained (outside of The Last Dance documentary covering Jordan, Pippen and the Bulls dynasty in their final season).
If anyone's wondering, I am still alive and still kicking. I have not forgotten about this blog and you know, to be honest, I couldn't up come with some content to keep this blog up and running since the mass quarantine hit. This year has been quiet on the front for me. I've spent this time working from home, catching up on shows I haven't got around, catching up on video games (great launch titles btw this month with Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy VII Remake). And, I've been busy with my master's program as well with the semester wrapping up in the next week or two. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but this blog has been an afterthought lately and I don't have the time to put up a whole lot of content as I used to.
With that said, I've been keeping track of the Raiders offseason activity. I'm not gonna lie, I still can't refer to them as a Las Vegas team. Just can't wrap my head around it. But, I'm contempt with where they are now. You go through the five stages of grief and I'm already at the "acceptance" stage, well sort of. But anyway, I personally thought they made some great moves. They did a great job addressing the linebacker corps signing Nick Kwiatkowski from the Bears and Cory Littleton from the Rams. One had a breakout season as a starter last season and the other has a Pro Bowl nod under his belt. Obviously, the Raiders have a revolving door at linebacker and they got upgrades that could be long-term starters. They also add Nelson Agholor to the receiving corps. They add a trio of Cowboys by signing Jason Witten, Maliek Collins, and Jeff Heath. The Witten signing was a surprise to me, but obviously they signed him as a locker room presence (pretty much what Jared Dudley is to the Lakers). And they got Marcus Mariota as a backup to push Derek Carr for the starting job. Let's be honest, the deck is stacked against Derek Carr to perform like a franchise QB. This brings us to this draft which has concluded.
The draft, Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden used their Vegas chips and went all in for playmakers on offense. This year's draft was loaded with receivers, so it was a goldmine for teams to land a need at the skill position. The Raiders honored Al Davis by taking the fastest receiver in Henry Ruggs III at number 12. CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, and Ruggs were all open when the Raiders were on the clock. They can't go wrong with either pick. My preference was Lamb because of his college production and route running, but Ruggs was a pick Al Davis would be proud of. The Raiders got their version of Tyreek Hill. A lot of pundits were comparing this to Darrius Heyward-Bey, but Ruggs doesn't have the stone hands that DHB had. He had less drops than Jeudy and Lamb. The kid is fast if you look at his YAC. He'll fill in the void left behind from Amari Cooper and do what Antonio Brown (ugh) was originally going to do for this team. Lynn Bowden Jr. and Bryan Edwards were selected back-to-back in the 3rd round and these were very good picks. Bowden can do it all and will pretty much be what Taysom Hill is to the New Orleans Saints. Bryan Edwards is a big body, 50/50 ball receiver. He broke all kinds of school records at South Carolina that were set by Alshon Jeffrey, which is a pretty fair comparison based on his tape.
The other picks, the Damon Arnette selection was a bit of a reach. But, this is the guy the Raiders wanted over better options at CB. They tried to trade back, but were unsuccessful at that so they took a gamble at 19. He may be worth it. He is a very good man-to-man corner which the Raiders have always coveted and only allowed 1 touchdown. The only cons was that he had character issues and he played hurt most of his final collegiate season with the Buckeyes. He'll compete for that starting CB with Nevin Lawson since Trayvon Mullen as the No. 1 corner is on lock. We'll see. The last time the Raiders took a corner from Ohio State didn't pan out so well. With their late 3rd and early 4th round picks, the Raiders continue to farm from the Clemson Tigers taking Linebacker, Tanner Muse and Guard, John Simpson. These are guys that the Raiders can plug and play in. Muse is a versatile player. He's penciled in at Safety, but has the build of a linebacker. Simpson fills a need at guard. I was hoping the Raiders addressed this given that Richie Incognito is getting old and Gabe Jackson could be on the trading block. The Raiders wrapped up their draft week selecting Amik Robertson out of LA Tech. Again, people are saying he is a steal given he was playing hurt.
Overall, it was a decent offseason for the Raiders in their first year at "the desert." Pretty much everything will be contingent on how Derek Carr performs. I love the guy, but I'm not a purist like most fans. He has Gruden's offense mastered. He's got weapons. He's got a running game. He'll be playing in less cold weather. This is not his rookie year anymore people. He's going into his seventh season getting paid like a franchise QB. This is make or break for Derek Carr. If he can't put it together, Mariota won't hesitate to snatch the starting job from him and be the new face in Vegas. No more excuses! We want results!
