Oakland Raiders: Making A Case For Offense With The Fourth Pick

One more week, Oakland Raiders fans. Just one more week and we’ll be free of the seemingly endless mock drafts, rumors, and speculation about draft strategies and who might be going where. Or where they won’t be going.

Of course, then we’ll get to argue and obsess about a whole new set of stuff for months on end until the season starts. But that’s neither here nor there at this point.

Until then though, the endless mock drafts, rumors, speculation, obsessing and arguing will continue…

As we draw ever closer to the 2015 NFL Draft, it seems that opinions are getting sharper and tempers are getting shorter when people are discussing their team’s fortunes. And given that Raiders’ fans are among the most passionate in the league, it would make sense that the arguing amongst them has reach near nuclear levels.

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Though all of the “experts” have the Raiders taking a receiver in most mock drafts, there is a clear divide between Raider fans about who Oakland should take with the fourth overall pick next week. One side of the aisle is screaming for defense – with the majority seeming to prefer Leonard Williams, but willing to settle for Dante Fowler Jr., or Vic Beasley. And the other side of the aisle is clamoring for offense – though there is a split between Amari Cooper fans and Kevin White fans.

Before we go any further, let us throw out this caveat: Should the Raiders take one of the elite defensive talents on the board, they’ll have made the right choice. And should they take one of the elite offensive talents on the board, they’ll have made the right choice there as well.

For the first time in a long time, Oakland is in a great spot. They don’t have the lingering uncertainty at the quarterback position, and their defense is a whole lot better. They have laid a pretty solid foundation this offseason. In a nice change of pace for an Oakland team that has been in desperation rebuild mode for a few seasons, they now have some options, and don’t have to spend all of their draft picks plugging the myriad of holes on the roster.

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All that being said, the Raiders would be wise to spend their overall pick on an offensive player such as Cooper or White. Though mostly Cooper.

And cue the howls of outrage and protest. Let’s set the over/under on the number of times words like “idiot” and “moron” appear in the comments section at eight.

One of the most frequent arguments you will hear from fans who believe that the Raiders should take Williams if he’s available, Fowler or Beasley if he’s not, is that defense wins championships. And while the argument has some merit, it’s not exactly entirely accurate. A rock solid defense can certainly help a team win a championship, but that defense can’t win it alone.

While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of a suffocating defense carrying a team to a title, there is actually just as much anecdotal evidence that a high powered offense has done the same.

Dec 6, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) runs the ball past Missouri Tigers defensive back Aarion Penton (11) during the first quarter of the 2014 SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports

Over the last ten years, the number one ranked defense in the league has won the Super Bowl twice. The most recent example being of course, the 2014 Seattle Seahawks led by the Legion of Boom. Of course, just this past February, the New England Patriots despite having the 13th ranked defense in the league, beat those same Seahawks. Fun fact – the Seahawks again had the number one defense in the league last season.

And you can go back even further to see that the belief that it’s defense that wins championships alone is little more than a myth. Since 2003, the NFL’s number one rated defense has won the Super Bowl just twice – the Seahawks in 2013, and the Steelers in 2008. The number one defense didn’t even make the playoffs in two other seasons (2010 Chargers, 2012 Steelers), lost in the wild card round four times (2003 Cowboys, 2005 Buccaneers, 2007 Steelers, 2011 Steelers), lost in the divisional round once (2006 Ravens), and lost in the conference championship game twice (2004 Steelers, 2009 Jets).

While a solid defense is absolutely needed, an offense that can put points on the board is needed just as much. It’s all about balance. With the rule changes the league has made, the NFL has become a points scoring league. You have to be able to stick the ball in the endzone consistently, if you hope to have success.

Last season, the Raiders scored just 15.8 points per game. Obviously, they did not find the endzone consistently. And given that the defense allowed 28.3 points per game, their opponents did. Both of those statistics are league worsts, by the way. And they help explain the lack of success Oakland had last season.

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The defense has undergone a major face lift this offseason as newcomers Dan Williams, Curtis Lofton, Malcolm Smith, and Nate Allen will look to get the Raiders’ defense back on track. Needless to say, the Raiders’ defense got a whole lot better this offseason. With Williams, Lofton, and Smith joining Khalil Mack, Sio Moore, Justin Tuck, and Justin Ellis, their front seven is an imposing one. And it will likely be far more effective than last season’s unit.

The offense though, hasn’t undergone as radical of a facelift. With Trent Richardson, Roy Helu, and Michael Crabtree joining the Raiders’ offensive unit, and with Rod Streater coming back from injury, the Raiders will have some weapons for Derek Carr to work with.

But what the offense does not have yet, is a home run hitter.

Crabtree will likely provide some production for the Raiders, and will help improve the passing game overall. But last season he saw his production drop drastically, and looked like he lacked the speed and explosiveness that had been part of his game for a while. He’s no longer a field stretcher, and he’s not going to burn people deep.

Streater showed flashes of his ability to do that in 2013. An injury sidelined him for almost all of last season, and we don’t yet know what he’s going to look like coming back. And of course, the veteran James Jones is always reliable and a solid receiver, but he’s a weapon primarily employed on short and intermediate routes.

Oakland needs somebody to pair with Streater on the outside. They need a receiver who can help keep defenses honest, and keep the offense from becoming too one dimensional. A deep threat like Cooper, somebody who is fast, runs precise routes, and who can seemingly get separation at will is just what this Oakland offense needs. Cooper is just the type of weapon second year quarterback Derek Carr desperately needs to take that next step in his development.

A receiving corps of Streater, Jones, Crabtree, Holmes, and Butler is good. It’s adequate. But throwing a Cooper into that mix will take it to another level. It will benefit all of the other receivers because defensive backs aren’t going to be able to sit on just one guy. He will draw some double teams, and he’ll draw plenty of attention – which will open up large portions of the field for the rest of the receiving group.

Oakland’s defense is good. It’s solid. And it will keep them in some games. It might even steal one or two. But adding a talent like Amari Cooper will take this Oakland offense from adequate to dynamic.

Having two strong units who complement one another will benefit the team as a whole – and it will win them plenty of games. The defense has enough very solid pieces in place to be a very good unit this season. The offense has enough to be fairly decent, but adding another explosive component like a Cooper or White would make them very good.

Defense wins championships. But they don’t win them alone. And they certainly don’t win them without an offense that can move the ball and score some points. As tempting as it would be to take a talent like Williams if he’s there at four, barring some bizarre and complicated trade offer, Oakland absolutely must resist that temptation and take Amari Cooper instead.

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