Oakland Raiders: 3 Reasons why they should tank 2018 season

1. Tanking builds for Las Vegas

The Raiders need to go all in on Las Vegas. Sin boldly. They need to focus on taking the team to Las Vegas ready to compete. Tanking will allow the Raiders to construct a roster to Gruden’s liking. It will be a roster full of high end talent on rookie contracts. It will be a team with a large amount of salary cap space allowing them to be competitive for high end free agents.

Looking to the Browns once more, we see a young, inexpensive team who is on the verge of being ready to compete. The four most important positions on a football team are quarterback, left tackle, pass rusher and cornerback. The Browns have elite talent at all four positions. All four of those players are on rookie contracts. Their cap space can now be used to add high end talent on the free agent market. Their Super Bowl window is now starting to open.

This is where the Raiders need to be in two years. They need a young nucleus they can market to the Vegas natives and weekend revelers. They need a large amount of salary cap space to attract high end free agents. They need this to keep the team relevant in Sin City.

For tanking to be successful for the Raiders, they need to start now. It is time to cut the middle class. Time to replace them with rookies. It is time to go through the growing pains to be position to dominate for a decade afterward.

It comes down to a simple question. Do the Raiders want to be a middle of the road team? Or do they want to be an elite team? Are they willing to pay the price to be elite?