Oakland Raiders: Let’s Not Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater

The Oakland Raiders’ season ended in disappointing fashion, but it’s hardly time to push the panic button and start to rebuild – again.

When the clock ran out in Houston, the Oakland Raiders were launched into the offseason by way of a 27-14 thumping at the hands of the Texans. There are a lot of factors you can point to for the dismal end to the season – Derek Carr‘s broken leg, a defense that underperformed, receivers that couldn’t hang on to the ball. There is no shortage of blame or valid criticism to go around.

It wasn’t the fairytale ending to the season many were hoping for, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater by making wholesale changes.

One product of the offseason is a never ending supply of opinions about what needs to be done to fix this or fix that on any given team. The Raiders are certainly no exception to that rule. For in the weeks since that humbling playoff loss, there has been a steady stream of “hot takes” and opinion pieces calling for this or that to be done.

Sean Smith. David Amerson. Clive Walford. Reggie Nelson. Seth Roberts. Marquette King. Connor Cook. Those are just some of the names various articles or postings on social media have called on to be cut or otherwise replaced on Oakland’s roster.

About the only people who have been immune to the barrage of criticism have been Carr and Khalil Mack.

It’s natural to be disappointed in the wake of what was a – well – disappointing pair of losses to close out the season. But let’s not overlook the fact that this was Oakland’s finest season in a decade and a half. It seems a little counterproductive to start calling for the roster to be blown up or overhauled in a major way, as some have been doing.

Of course, there are plenty of things that need to be addressed and/or cleaned up this offseason. But this isn’t a team that’s really that far off from being a bona fide contender. This isn’t a team that needs to do something drastic to get there.

The defense, no question, was the Achille’s heel of this team last season. And by bringing in somebody like a John Pagano to help shore up a unit that gave up a lot of big, explosive plays – but wasn’t nearly as horrific as many continue to believe – they took a good first step toward that goal.

But not all of Oakland’s woes can be pinned on the defense. Though often electric, the offense could also sometimes be a little stale and a little uninspired. The hope is that Todd Downing will bring some fresh blood, creativity, and innovation – as well as a little bit of familiarity and continuity – to an offense that, when it was clicking, was one of the NFL’s best last season.

Departed OC Bill Musgrave deserves a lot of credit for Oakland’s offensive renaissance, but as many have noted, he could be a little conservative and vanilla at times, and fell back on tendencies that opposing defenses could see coming a mile away. With Downing in charge, the Raiders are hoping to be a little less – predictable.

Though the opinions are many and varied, personnel-wise, Oakland’s biggest areas of need are along the interior of the defensive line and their inside linebackers group. Neither unit performed well last season and that lack of production hurt other areas of the defense as well.

Do you really think Smith and Amerson would have struggled as mightily at times, if Oakland actually had a pass rush and could put sustained pressure on the opposing quarterbacks? Probably not.

So no, the Raiders don’t need to go crazy by bringing in a pass catching tight end – they’ve got two in Clive Walford and Mychal Rivera. They don’t need a backup quarterback – they’ve got raw, young talent in Connor Cook. And they certainly dont need new starting corners – Smith and Amerson combined for four interceptions and 27 passes defensed last year.

The point is that this isn’t the time go push that panic button. There’s no need. Just as there’s no need to start cutting and replacing players all willy-nilly. The team needs to be methodical and precise in adding players who can help take this team to the next level.

And it seems far more than obvious that what they need to do is strengthen the middle of that defense. Find interior linemen, either through the draft or through free agency, who can bring pressure up the gut, as well as linebackers who can play the run and the pass equally as well.

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It might not look like it, but the Raiders actually aren’t that far away from having a very good, perhaps even elite level defense. They just need a few more pieces to fit into that puzzle. What they don’t need, is to throw all of the puzzle pieces they have in hand to the floor and start all over again.

If they can find players to shore up and strengthen the middle of that defense, combined with who is already on the roster, you just might be surprised by how dominant this defense can be.