Oakland Raiders: Predicting the next pieces to fall in offseason of change

Sean Smith ($8.25M)

This one would seem like a no-brainer, despite reports floating around out there that Smith may be back in Silver and Black next season.

Smith’s tenure with the Raiders has been marked by shoddy play and inconsistency. And he has had a large hand in contributing to what has been one of the absolute worst pass defenses in the league – by far – over these last couple of seasons.

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Part of it can be blamed on the defense Ken Norton was running when he was calling the shots for Oakland’s defense. Norton never put his players in a position to succeed, nor did he maximize their strengths.

That can be evidenced by the fact that once Norton was fired and John Pagano elevated to the DC’s chair, Smith rallied down the stretch and was – well – less horrible than he had been. Let’s not go overboard and say he was great, but he was better under Pagano than he was under Norton.

To his poor play, you have got to add in Smith’s pending legal troubles. Facing a trial on felony assault, Smith is looking at the possibility of actually doing prison time. His trial is set to begin in March and the outcome is anything but guaranteed.

When you add those two things together – shoddy play plus legal troubles – and then factor in his $8.25 million dollar cap hit (with zero dead money should they release him), it would seemingly be a no-brainer that he’s going to be shown the door at some point – reports to the contrary notwithstanding.

Oakland is going to need to revamp their cornerbacks room – again – and it would seem likely, if not probable, that Smith is not going to be part of that rebuild.