Oakland Raiders: Nine Players Who Must Play Big For Team To Succeed

Dec 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray (28) runs the ball against the Buffalo Bills in the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Latavius Murray/Trent Richardson

As detailed in an earlier slide, Oakland’s running game was beyond pathetic in 2014. The team could not get the tough yards when needed, and even worse, the ground game was so below average, that defenses didn’t really have to worry about it when game planning.

Because the Raiders’ rushing attack was so bad last season, the offense became one dimensional and opposing defenses were able to tee off on Carr and sit on his receivers, greatly adding to some of the troubles in the passing game.

But gone are McFadden and Jones-Drew, and in their place are two young backs who have the opportunity to resurrect Oakland’s ground game and make the offense more dynamic as a whole.

Murray showed, in incredibly limited action last season, that he has the talent to be a tremendous asset to the club. He put up incredibly gaudy numbers against the Chiefs in a late November game (four carries, 120 yards, 2 touchdowns), and over 80 carries total for the year, put up a healthy average of 5.2 YPC.

The trouble is, it’s a very small sample size on which to judge Murray’s ability. Can he remain healthy, and be effective over the course of a long season? Can he be the team’s bellcow out of the backfield? We just don’t know yet. But he’s going to get every chance to prove that he can be those things.

Richardson, the former third overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, after a decent rookie season, has been nothing short of a bust. He was so bad in Cleveland that the Browns traded him to Indianapolis – somehow fleecing the Colts out of a first round pick for him in the process – but he didn’t fare much better in Indy either.

Sep 28, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson (34) runs the ball during the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

Richardson has been given another – and if it doesn’t work out, quite possibly his last – chance in Oakland. Del Rio obviously saw something he liked in Richardson, and thinks he can work with him, develop him, and maximize his talents – and Richardson does have talent. He’s showed brief flashes of that exceptional talent over his three seasons in the league. But seldom more than brief flashes.

Del Rio is hoping that a return to a system that utilizes his talent and puts him in positions to find success will help him rejuvenate his career – and provide the Raiders with another solid running back in the process. Richardson – and Amari Cooper – have both commented on how similar some of the concepts the Raiders are running are to the concepts they employ at Alabama – the place Richardson had tremendous success.

If Del Rio and Musgrave can coax the sort of performance out of Richardson that he had at Alabama, Oakland’s running game will be in good shape.

Whether it be Richardson or Murray getting the bulk of the carries – our best guess is a fairly even distribution though – the Raiders running backs must improve upon a miserable 2014. The success of the offense is depending upon it.

Next: Run Stuffers