Oakland Raiders: A Few Questions That Must Be Answered This Offseason

How Will The Situation At Corner Be Addressed?

The first domino has already fallen with the release of David Amerson. Given Amerson’s performance the past couple of seasons – at least, when he’s been able to stay on the field – it seems like a case of addition by subtraction.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about this Raiders roster, it’s that the cornerbacks group needs to be revamped. Perhaps, burned to the ground and built back up again from scratch is a better way to put it.

With Amerson gone, it seems likely that Sean Smith will be the next out the door. Given his contract, the fact that he hasn’t come close to living up to it, not to mention his pending legal problems – problems that could potentially land him in prison – it would seem that Smith isn’t long for the East Bay.

And of course, T.J. Carrie is expected to dip his toes into the free agency pool, further depleting the secondary, though it might not be a huge loss. Most accept that Carrie was Oakland’s best corner last season, and he probably was.

But, that was a very low bar to clear. Given the dumpster fire Oakland’s secondary was last season, saying Carrie was their best corner, is akin to saying he was the winner of an ugly contest. So, at least he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

Which, of course, leaves the Raiders in a bind.

With Gareon Conley basically redshirting his entire first season, he’s got a lot of catching up to do. He’s got talent and a ton of upside, but he’s also profoundly short on actual game experience and seems to have attitude and maturity problems.

The Raiders also have former seventh-round pick Dexter McDonald under contract for 2018. His play has been “okay,” but, to put it kindly, he’s more or less proven why he was a seventh-round pick to begin with. To put it less kindly, he probably shouldn’t be on the active roster.

But Oakland, shorthanded and underperforming last season, had to go with McDonald at times.

The Raiders obviously need a massive overhaul and upgrade of their cornerbacks room. With some intriguing names set to hit the market like Malcolm Butler, Trumaine Johnson, and Kyle Fuller, among others, Oakland could – and should – opt to spend some money on upgrading their pass defense.

Conley and McDonald don’t inspire a ton of confidence at the moment, so it will be interesting to see which route the Raiders take to improve a secondary that needs it in the worst way possible.