Oakland Raiders Preseason: 3 Things to watch vs Cardinals

With expectations so high, the Oakland Raiders play their first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, and here are three things to watch.

The Oakland Raiders finished the 2016 season just one game away from winning the AFC West. They also were a Derek Carr injury away from potentially making a run in the playoffs. Instead, they suffered a Wild Card Round exit to an inferior Houston Texans team.

Rather than wallow in their misfortune, however, the Raiders have retooled and revamped and appear to be even more dangerous heading into the 2017 season. There are viable Super Bowl aspirations for this group.

But before that, the NFL preseason paves the way for Oakland and all 31 other teams. Subsequently, the Raiders begin their preseason on Saturday night against the Arizona Cardinals. What should we be watching for in that matchup? A look at three big things.

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The Secondary Situation

There are a lot of questions surrounding the Oakland secondary. Last season, they were far being anything resembling a Super Bowl-caliber defense. This year, however, fans are more hopeful about the outlook of the secondary. Oakland’s top two picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, Gareon Conley and Obi Melifonwu, are out with injuries so we know they will not play on Saturday. There is more to watch for, though.

After a turbulent 2016 season, Sean Smith’s troubles continued into training camp this season and he was demoted to practicing with the 2nd-team defense for multiple days. Although being the starting cornerback for the team last season, the Raiders also moved him to play a nickel linebacker at practice earlier this week. So, where Smith plays against the Arizona Cardinals remains a major question. Does he play with the first-team or second-team? Does he play cornerback or nickel linebacker? We should get a better picture of Smith’s role in the upcoming season after Saturday’s game.

It will also be interesting to see some more unknown players get a chance to show fans what they have. Undrafted rookie Breon Borders has been making waves at camp and many believe he has a strong chance to not only make the team but to also see some playing time during the regular season. T.J. Carrie, who only started three games last season, also has a legitimate chance to start, especially after going off earlier this week, intercepting both Derek Carr and EJ Manuel during practice.

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Two Rookies Starting on D

When the Raiders drafted Conley and Melifonwu with their first two picks in the NFL Draft, many fans expected both to make an immediate impact on defense. However it is third-round pick Eddie Vanderdoes and fifth-round pick Marquel Lee who were listed as starters when the depth chart was released on Tuesday. Vanderdoes has been impressing scouts all week and could be the steal of the draft if he is able to keep up his pace of play. Lee is more of a raw talent but, due to the Raiders’ insufficiencies at middle linebacker, will get the opportunity to show Oakland he deserves a starting spot on this squad.

Many eyes will be on both Vanderdoes and Lee and they need to make sure they take full advantage of this opportunity if they expect to start on a team with Super Bowl aspirations. With the belief that Conley will still start when healthy, it is impressive that Oakland may have found at least three immediate starters in this past draft.

Quarterback Play

The question here is both who plays and how they play. Obviously, Derek Carr is the starting quarterback on this team, but it should be noted that we have not seen him play since Week 16 of last season when he broke his fibula against the Indianapolis Colts. Carr had surgery to repair the injury three days later.

While Carr has been a full participant in practice so far, there has been no word from the Raiders if they will allow him to play on Saturday. Carr said he is ready and wants to play. So even if he plays the first drive, it will be interesting to see if he has fully healed from his injury.

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There is also a question of who Carr’s backup will be. Last season’s backup, Connor Cook, appears to have been overtaken on the depth chart by former Bills quarterback EJ Manuel. This battle should still be considered in flux, though. Each should have plenty of opportunities on Saturday to make their case for the job. Backup quarterbacks are important on any team, but perhaps never more so than on a team in which the franchise quarterback is coming off of a season-ending injury.