Our Sunday Debate is back. This week, Mark Morales-Smith and Brendan Pignataro debate whether or not the Oakland Raiders are a playoff caliber team heading into 2016. Brendan says no, while Mark begs the differ.
It’s that time of week again. It’s Sunday so you know what that means, it’s time to make Brendan look silly. This week our debate centers around the Oakland Raiders. I believe they are ready to take that next step and make the playoffs in the AFC, while Brendan believes they are perennial losers that will never mount to anything. Here’s why as usual, I’m right.
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The Raiders took a big step forward last season winning seven games. It has been a long arduous process, but they have finally built a super-talented young team built to win for years to come. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a glaring weak spot on the team now. After drafting great over the past three years, they did an outstanding job in free agency this year. They’ve had money to spend for years, but made ill advised signings. One major reason being that nobody wanted to play there. All of a sudden they have a ton of young talent to lure the top free agents. Showing promise can go a long way in helping recruitment.
Let’s start on offense. Derek Carr, who I was very high on coming out, looks like he could potentially be the real deal. Let’s not coronate him yet, but you have to like what we’ve seen to this point. Derek looks like David was supposed to look like. It doesn’t hurt that he’s not being sacked on every other play either. In just his second NFL season, Carr saw a nice spike in production and efficiency. As a rookie he completed 58.1 percent of his pass attempts for 3,270 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In 2015, he completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 3,987 yards, 32 touchdowns and 13 INTs. That’s a nice jump and he could be explosive if he continues to develop.
There are a number of things that helped his development. Both the wide receiver and running back position was much improved last season. However, the offensive line wasn’t, but it is now. The addition of Kelechi Osmele was a huge pick up and unlike in years past, they won the coveted free agency over numerous other teams. I also love rookie guard Vadal Alexander out of LSU. I graded him out as an early Round 3 talent and believe he was an absolute steal in Round 7. This O-line is not elite, nonetheless, it should be in the upper half of the league. Re-signing Donald Penn helped as well.
I love the weapons in the passing attack as well. Amari Cooper is a superstar in the making. We can almost all agree that he’s destined for greatness. The 2015 fourth-overall pick caught 72 passes for 1,070 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie. While he did lack some consistency, the flashes he showed were undeniable.
As much as it pains me to say, because I had completely written him off and predicted next to nothing from him, Michael Crabtree was shockingly effective last season. He’s not a superstar like Cooper by any means. With that said, he’s still just 28 years old and caught 85 passes last season with nine scores and 922 yards. I also like the depth at the wide receiver position in Andre Holmes and Seth Roberts. Both guys can be impactful as a role player.
Latavius Murray is a special back. His combination of size and speed is rare. I’ve been high on him since he was a rookie and never understood why the Raiders were utilizing inferior players like Darren McFadden over him in the rushing attack. Murray also dealt with injury concerns. Still, last season he finished second in the AFC in rushing by just four yards. From a talent standpoint, the sky is the limit for Murray.
Oakland also added talented rookie DeAndre Washington in the draft to help take some of the pressure off of Murray. The team made it clear they didn’t want to put too much on his shoulders this season. He’ll still be the man, however, the team should be able to sustain the rushing attack with him out of the game this year. Roy Helu clearly was not the answer.
My love for Clive Walford is well documented. I fully expect him to be a breakout player this season and become one of the top tight ends in the league within the next two-to-three years. I believe he’s the final key piece to the offensive puzzle and vastly overlooked at this point. Now I can go on and on about the former Miami Hurricane. Instead, check out the “More From NFL Spinzone” link to read more about my opinion on Walford.
The Raiders defense is all of a sudden outstanding on paper. While football isn’t played on paper and they still have to prove it on the field, this defense looks dangerous. The defensive line is stocked with young talent. The defensive tackles are less than elite, but the defensive ends are unbelievable. Khalil Mack is one of the best young players in the league. Not best young DE’s, best young players. He’ll likely be a defensive player of the year candidate for years to come. He’s a special player. Mario Edwards showed flashes last season as well and the team added rookies Jihad Ward and New Jersey’s own Shiilique Cahoun in the 2016 NFL Draft.
The linebackers’ corps aren’t great, but they are solid. Malcolm Smith proved to be a tackling machine last year in the middle. Bruce Irvin adds a dangerous pass-rusher on the outside. Aldon Smith has unlimited upside as well. He’s a high-upside, low-risk signing. We’ve seen him both approach Michael Strahan’s single season sack record and get repeatedly arrested and suspended. Time will tell with him. Then Mack also drops back as a linebacker in many formations, which is likely to continue,
The secondary is where the Raiders really improved this offseason. Their pass defense has been a nightmare for a long time now. They made strides to change that in free agency. The big additions were cornerback Sean Smith and safety Reggie Nelson. Smith is a tall, long true No. 1 corner that can be matched up and hold his own against the best in the league. Not only is his addition huge for the Raiders, it also hurts division rival Kansas City Chiefs. Nelson is an outstanding addition as well. The concern with Nelson is he’ll be 33 years old in September. Still, he’s excellent for the time being. Nelson is a strong tackler and led the league with eight interceptions last season. Both Smith and Nelson are massive upgrades that will vastly improve the secondary immediately.
On top of the Raiders getting better, the Chiefs and Broncos have gotten worse. As Brendan wrote a whole article on last week, he believes the Chiefs are the one 2015 playoff team destined to miss the playoffs in 2016. As I mentioned they lost Smith and Justin Houston is questionable to even play this year thanks to a devastating knee injury. Tamba Hali is a shell of his former self, Derrick Johnson is nearing the end of the line and Jamaal Charles is coming off yet another torn ACL. There are a ton of question marks surrounding the Chiefs and none of them are very good.
The Broncos may start the seas with Mark Sanchez as the starting quarterback. The other option is a rookie. That’s not promising. They lost key pieces like Malik Jackson and most importantly Danny Trevathan on defense. Their defense carried them to a title last season. With the quarterback position once again a major concern, they can’t afford any drop off.
Then again, no matter who they put back there can’t be worse than Peyton Manning was last year. He was by far the worst quarterback in the league with nine touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Luckily for him that defense was able to drag his decomposing carcass through the playoffs. The Raiders did beat Denver last year too. Brock Osweiler probably still has nightmares about Mack relentlessly chasing him down after he sacked him five times in a game.
I actually like what the San Diego Chargers did this offseason, but they just aren’t as talented as the Raiders. As a matter of fact, at this point there aren’t all that many teams that are as talented as Oakland. Which is exactly why they’re destined to make the AFC playoffs in 2016.
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Let’s hear it Raider Nation! What do you think about the Raiders chances in 2016?