Oakland Raiders: 6 Players The Team Needs To Show Up Big In 2017
By Kevin Saito
Now that all of the excitement, fireworks and confetti have settled, we come to the reality – Marshawn Lynch is an Oakland Raider.
Given the awkward nature of the next couple of seasons, luring Lynch out of retirement to play for his hometown team is PR gold. But, to be competitive, the Raiders are going to need more than just PR points. A lot more.
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They’re going to need a potent and reliable ground game – the kind they had last season when Latavius Murray led the Raiders to the sixth-best rushing attack in the league.
And the question that absolutely needs to be answered is – how much does Lynch have left in the tank?
Everybody has marveled at how good Lynch has looked during the offseason program so far. Many, including GM Reggie McKenzie have stated that he has plenty left in the tank.
"“We think he has more than enough left to be a highly productive running back in this league. Even back to his latter couple years when he was playing. We think he’ll be highly productive.”"
McKenzie better hope and pray that he’s right because in allowing Murray – who was a more cost effective and yet very reliable option – to walk away, he’s putting all of his eggs in Lynch’s basket.
Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington are fantastic change of pace backs who do a lot of things well, but they aren’t built to be the team’s bellcow backs.
And the elephant in the room, of course, is that Lynch is a 31-year old back coming off a year of retirement after an injury-ravaged, highly ineffective 2015 season. History tells us that running backs over the age of 30 are few and far between – especially when they have the bruising, punishing style of running that Lynch does.
For the Raiders to maximize their offense, they’re going to need to have vintage Beast Mode in the backfield, rather than the 2015 version. He may look good in the offseason, but we’ll have to wait and see how that translates to the actual game.