Oakland Raiders: Recent Defensive Power Rankings Defy Logic
By Kevin Saito
Apparently, there are some who don’t think too much of the Oakland Raiders’ defensive upgrades this offseason. Or perhaps, they’re just not inclined to think too much of the Raiders no matter what they do – which is at least, somewhat understandable given the sheer number of Raider Haters out there.
More from Las Vegas Raiders News
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- Raiders: Bryan Edwards out, Henry Ruggs doubtful for Sunday
- Raiders: Damon Arnette re-injures thumb, could be headed to IR
- Raiders fall short in letdown Week 3 loss to the New England Patriots
- Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 at New England Patriots
But to actually argue that the Raiders have gotten worse, defensively speaking, this offseason boggles the mind and seems to defy all logic and common sense.
But logic and common sense be damned, apparently. Such is the case being made by some in the sports media industry. Not the least of which is Allesandro Miglio, a featured columnist over at Bleacher Report, who released his post draft defensive power rankings for all thirty-two teams earlier in the week.
According to Miglio’s power rankings, the Raiders check in at number twenty-three. Undoubtedly, there are some out there ecstatic to see Oakland at twenty-three on Miglio’s piece, coming in ahead of teams like the Falcons, Browns, Steelers, Buccaneers, Saints, Packers, Washington, Bears, and the Titans.
Oakland is twenty-third! Given how bad they’ve been for so long, that’s good right? That shows that the Raiders are progressing and that people are finally taking them seriously again, right?
That sort of thinking holds water only if you believe that Oakland had the league’s worst defense last season. And the season before. And the season before that. And on, and on. And given their lack of success over the last decade plus, it’s understandable that you might think they were scraping the very bottom of the defensive barrel in the Bay Area. Nobody could blame you for thinking that because they’ve been bad for so long, the Raiders had the league’s worst defense in 2014.
Except for the fact that they didn’t. By the numbers, the Raiders actually had the twenty-first ranked defense by season’s end. Obviously, that’s still not a great number as it resides in the lower echelons of the league.
But did you catch that? By the end of 2014, in terms of total defensive yardage, giving up just about 358 yards per game, the Raiders had the NFL’s twenty-first ranked defense. But according to Miglio’s power ranking, he’s slotting them in to have the NFL’s twenty-third ranked defense in 2015.
Which means – according to Miglio, the Raiders’ defense actually got worse this offseason. See? Logic and common sense be damned.
Wrote Miglio:
"“The Raiders had another offseason with a ton of cap space available, but it wasn’t necessarily spent wisely. The best pickup on defense was former Arizona Cardinals nose tackle Dan Williams.Linebacker Curtis Lofton, safety Nate Allen and linebacker Malcolm Smith are all middling signings who could be slight improvements, and Mario Edwards Jr. should bolster the defensive line as a rookie.”"
Miglio sees them as middling signings, but there are many around the league who see them for what they are – players who immediately make Oakland a more competitive squad signed at incredibly team friendly rates.
More from Golden Gate Sports
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
- 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
To some, such as Miglio apparently, signing a contract that isn’t in the ten million dollar a year range seems to automatically make a player “middling” and an unwise signing. Better to sign Terrance Knighton to the near ten million dollar a year deal he reportedly wanted than signing Williams to a far more reasonable contract – even though Pro Football Focus graded Williams out higher than Knighton.
Oakland’s biggest Achille’s Heel in 2014 was stopping the run. Against the run last season, the Raiders were twenty-third in the league, giving up just about 120 yards per game. They were routinely gashed by opposing running backs and had a hard time making important stops at critical times.
The signing of Williams and Lofton, in particular, are geared to bettering that statistic. Both are very proven run stuffers and when teamed with Justin Tuck, Justin Ellis – who began coming into his own last season – Sio Moore, Khalil Mack – who was an absolute beast against the run in 2014 – and some combination of Edwards, Max Valles, Benson Mayowa on the other end, are going to make Oakland’s defensive front seven a very formidable unit.
Given the upgrades to that defensive front, putting Lofton in place of Miles Burris – though he tried hard, he couldn’t really man that middle linebacker spot and proved a defensive liability – getting terrific support from their safeties in Nate Allen and Charles Woodson, who are also both very good against the run, Oakland is going to be a very tough team to run against in 2015.
Live Feed
SideLion Report
You can expect that Oakland’s run defense, twenty-third overall after giving up almost 2,000 yards on the ground in 2014, will be much better unit, and will actually manage to climb the latter in terms of run defense. Given their upgrades both through the draft and free agency, Oakland has the potential to be a top fifteen defense in the league.
If there is one area on the defense that the team should be concerned with, it’s the defensive secondary. Though the unit ranked number fifteen in the league last season, there are a few questions lingering about this offseason – the biggest of which is, are Travis Carrie and D.J. Hayden ready to step up and show the team, and the league, that they’re in control?
Having let Carlos Rogers – who was an absolute non factor in 2014 anyway – and Tarell Brown walk away in free agency, GM Reggie McKenzie is putting all of his eggs into the Hayden/Carrie basket. Both have showed outstanding athleticism and incredible potential, but Carrie is still incredibly green, and Hayden has missed most of his first two seasons for one injury or another.
With only Keith McGill, Neiko Thorpe, James Dockery, and now Dexter McDonald behind them on the depth chart, McKenzie is taking one big gamble on his young cornerbacks. But it’s one that if it pays off, will – given the team’s upgrades up and down the roster – help elevate the Raiders to a whole new level.
If everything breaks right, and the Raiders play to their potential, it will help lead them some place they haven’t seen in a very, very long time – the postseason.
As it stands, given their upgrades to the roster, as well as adding a strong, defensively minded head coach in Jack Del Rio and defensive coordinator in Ken Norton Jr. who have decades worth of real NFL experience between them, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the Raiders are somehow going to be a worse defensive unit in 2015 than they were in 2014, as Miglio’s power rankings piece suggests.
Oakland is likely going to need a little more time and seasoning before they’ll be one of the league’s elite units. But that does not preclude them from being one of the league’s better units. They have the personnel and they have the coaching staff in place, looking to build upon the team’s small successes in 2014. And there were a few.
Oakland didn’t have a great defense last season. It got better as the season wore on, but they were still on the lower rungs of the league in terms of total defense. And they have been for a little while now. Which is likely why – despite a number of terrific upgrades to the roster, as well as a coaching staff with a reputation for defensive success – it’s easy for certain writers to not really do their homework or take a by the numbers look at where they are now, before firing off a column in which they seem to slot certain teams into certain positions based on nothing but personal perception of past performance.
All logic and common sense be damned.