Fresh off a disappointing 2009 campaign in which they continued their recent tradition of failure, things may be looking up for the Raiders.
After so many years of often making the wrong moves in free agency and the draft, the Raiders seemed to be making an effort to keep things low key this offseason. This meant a draft choice with more substance than style and the jettisoning of former first overall pick JaMarcus Russell.
But now, as they focus on a long-overdue rebuild, are they prepared to compete, or simply preparing to not embarrass themselves?
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THE GOOD NEWS
1. Lining up some consistency.
The Raiders' defensive line last year was inconsistent but put forth the strongest group and individual performances on the entire roster.
Richard Seymour was symptomatic of the entire unit with strong or outstanding performances against the likes of San Diego, Houston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. These were always complemented by poor performances against the likes of of Kansas City and both New York squads. If Seymour and the rest of the D-line could consistently put forth the form they showed in flashes, this defense would have a more stable foundation to build upon.
Rookie Matt Shaughnessy put together a strong season and the Raiders will be hoping he steps forwards to maintain his level of play with a greater snap count. Oakland has some useful building blocks on the defensive line but needs returning new new role players to put forth stronger showings than Gerard Warren and Trevor Scott managed last season.
More consistency down the depth chart and through the season will allow the Raiders' defense to take a step forward and take some pressure off of the back seven.
2. Backing it up.
The Raiders may have reversed conventional wisdom of how to build a defense, but they have an extremely strong defensive backfield, with quality at both corner and safety.
Nnamdi Asomugha has been largely avoided by opposition passing attacks, both by reputation and his positioning at RCB — unconventional for a team's top corner. This year, he's going to move around as a more traditional matchup corner, but around him the Raiders have accrued some excellent talent.
CB Chris Johnson has had his troubles but also put up some strong games last year to provide a solid starting pair, and at safety the Raiders have somewhat of an embarrassment of riches. Tyvon Branch emerged last year with an excellent all-around season and Michael Huff appeared to find his niche in sub packages at free safety (although that's not quite what you'd hope from a No. 7 overall pick). Rookie Michael Mitchell begain to vindicate his surprising draft pick with some strong spot play as an in-the-box safety.
If the Raiders can find themselves a nickel corner of more consistency and ability than Stanford Routt and can work out a combination from Huff, Mitchell and Branch, they will have the back end largely sorted.
THE BAD NEWS
1. Turnstiles up front.
An offensive line that was widely touted as a strongsuit coming into the 2009 season fell apart with injuries and poor performances to become a glaring Achilles' heel throughout the season. Robert Gallery has found his niche at guard but if he can't stay healthy then his usefulness to the Raiders continues to dwindle. Aside from Cooper Carlisle at the other guard spot, the Raiders don't have even an average performer in this unit. Mario Henderson was our worst offensive tackle last season and returns at left tackle. Without drastic improvement, new QB Jason Campbell will be running for his life, as he was for much of '09 behind the Redskins' line.
Oakland has done itself no favors in shifting personnel the last two offseasons along the O-line, either. Getting Samson Satele and losing Jake Grove was definitely the short end of the stick on that exchange. The Raiders have not done much to address the personnel of their line, and the pressure will be on line coach Jim Michalzcik to either get his veterans playing far better than they managed in '09 or get rookies Jared Veldheer and Bruce Campbell ready to play earlier than might ideally be desired.
Barring remarkable improvement up front, expect Campbell to struggle for time to find a sub-standard set of receivers and the Raiders' backs to struggle to find space to work. A lot rests on big strides from this group of linemen.
2. Nowhere to throw from here.
The Raiders' receiving corps needs to make strides to help Campbell in the passing game. As much as the line needs to give the QBs more time, the receivers need to get open and catch the football when their QBs find them.
Darrius Heyward-Bey isn't officially a bust yet, but his first year was filled with pressure after the Raiders were deemed to have reached for him. Then he fell far short of even the most conservative expectations of a rookie wide receiver. The same question marks over Heyward-Bey's college career — that he was a track star with inconsistent hands and route-running ability — resurfaced in his rookie season. He'll need to do a lot of work with WR coach Sanjay Lal to ensure that his career doesn't rapidly slide into obscurity.
Heyward-Bey was the worst of the group but not alone in his downright poor play. Chaz Schilens returned from injury for a poor second half to the season and Louis Murphy has been widely lauded for a decent rookie season in trying circumstances, but 7 drops to 34 catches is a poor return. Murphy showed the ability to break the big play, but his consistency was very much lacking. The pressure will be on this group to step forward and take some of the pressure off of Zach Miller, who is currently carrying the passing game largely on his own shoulders from the tight end spot.
OUTLOOK
The Raiders should be looking to make baby steps to improve this season — anything larger would take an awful lot of players developing and showing form they simply haven't in the past. The Raiders failed to go out and make the sweeping change to their personnel that prior performances suggest they perhaps should have. So 2010 is simply about each squad taking a step forward and collectively trying to close the gap slowly to the top of the division. Expecting any sort of major leap from the Raiders this season would be very optimistic.
Target: 7-9
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