Oakland Raiders: Midseason Report Card For The Offense
By Kevin Saito
Tight Ends
Hey, remember when picking up Jared Cook this offseason was going to totally elevate Oakland’s offense? Remember when adding Jared Cook to Oakland’s array of weapons was going to make the league’s sixth-ranked offense one of the most potent and dominant in the league?
Yeah, what happened there, exactly?
Now, this isn’t to say that Cook hasn’t had some nice catches. He has. But, he’s also made some costly mistakes. The drop against Denver and the fumble against Baltimore come to mind immediately.
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But, has having Cook in the lineup really made that much of a difference to Oakland’s offense? No, not really. Not at all, actually.
Now, to be fair, Cook hasn’t been a complete stiff. He’s third on the team with 373 receiving yards on 31 receptions on 46 targets – a 67 percent reception rate. He’s also added a touchdown.
But, it’s also fair to say that Cook hasn’t been the difference maker on this Oakland offense that many were hyping him up to be when he signed.
Oakland’s offense probably wouldn’t be any worse off with Clive Walford running the routes Cook does. We’ve already seen Walford make as many good grabs as Cook has made all season. And yet, for the year, Walford has two grabs for six yards on just three targets.
Even Lee Smith, Oakland’s blocking tight end has twice as many targets as Walford does. And in his role, Smith continues to excel.
Now, if Downing were to use double tight end sets and put Walford and Cook out into pass routes, that might add a new wrinkle to this offense. Because of their size and speed, both of them would present plenty of matchup problems for an opposing defense.
And yet, Walford languishes on the bench while Cook is out there, not adding anything special or new to the Raiders offense. What a bargain for near $11 million dollars, huh?
This isn’t to say that Cook has been bad. He hasn’t. He just hasn’t been the revelation at the tight end position the Raiders made him out to be when they signed him. He’s been exactly what many of us thought at the time – an older, more expensive version of Walford.
The real problem isn’t the tight ends themselves, but an OC who can’t figure out how to use both of them to really make life miserable for an opposing defense.
GRADE: D