Oakland Raiders: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019

The Oakland Raiders will be in the public eye for all of the 2019 season but which players could take advantage of that with breakout years?

From the exact moment the Oakland Raiders hired Jon Gruden, it was clear that NFL fans would be entertained, for better or worse. The results, to this point, have not disappointed. Gruden’s first year with the team consisted of trading away arguably the team’s two best players (Khalil Mack, then Amari Cooper) and finishing with the fourth-worst record in the league.

With the additions of general manager Mike Mayock, three first-round draft picks, Antonio Brown and plenty more entering the 2019 season, Gruden’s Raiders don’t figure to leave the spotlight during their last season in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas. HBO recently made sure that will be the case by announcing that the Raiders will be the subject of Hard Knocks for 2019.

Even once the HBO cameras have stopped rolling, though, the Raiders will still be a team to watch all season long. One interesting thing that national spotlight again will bring, though, is the opportunity for players to step up and make a name for themselves. Thus, it stands to look at players who are in a position to do just that with a breakout 2019 season.

Before we get into the Raiders players I have pegged for that role, one player worth mentioning is defensive tackle Maurice Hurst. A first-round talent that fell to Oakland in the fifth round last year due to a heart condition discovered at the NFL Combine, Hurst was a standout rookie performer and arguably the best part of their defense. With more help around him, you could say he’s the most primed to break out.

While that may be true, my stance is that he already broke out by establishing himself as a consistent force during his rookie season as a fifth-round pick. As such, he will not be featured here. These three Raiders players, however, are those I have pegged to potentially break out in 2019.