Oakland Raiders: 7 last-minute predictions ahead of the 2019 season

3. A Defensive Tackle will lead the Raiders in Sacks

Sacks aren’t the only way to evaluate how effective or ineffective a defense is, but they’re a quick way to gain the mental edge if the opposing quarterback is getting brought down early and often.

Simply put, the Oakland Raiders were not very good defensively last season. Their thirteen sacks for the entire season were, by far, the worst in the league. That’s 0.8 sacks per game, good for dead last in the league, and a full sack behind the New York Giants who were second-worst.

Khalil Mack, who was unceremoniously shipped out to kick off an abysmal 2018 Raiders campaign, put up 12.5 sacks with the Bears by himself.

Don’t think that the Raiders are going to escape the drawn connections between how their defense is doing and how Mack is doing anytime soon. It was a story last year and it’ll continue being a story until the Raiders can put together a respectable enough defense.

This past draft, Oakland used six of their nine draft picks to select defensive players, pointing to an obvious need to organically piece together a defense that can fight back against the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Philip Rivers.

Oakland Raiders fans should be excited about Clelin Ferrell, who will be a massive lift for a pass-rushing group that only loosely deserved that name last season.

Barring absolute disaster, the Raiders will almost definitely eclipse the thirteen-sack mark.

But it remains to be seen if Ferrell can really bring himself to being anywhere close to the monster that Mack was and is. Ferrell, the number four pick of this year’s draft, tallied 27 sacks during his collegiate career as part of an intimidating Clemson defense.

With the Raiders in his rookie year, he won’t lead the team in sacks. While he’ll elevate the defense hopefully past whatever mark Mack puts up this season, the sack leader will be a defensive tackle.

And his name will be Maurice Hurst.

This is the real silver lining of the whole situation for Raiders fans. Mo Hurst was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, and many fans maligned the pick.

Hurst, while undeniably talented with Michigan, plummeted in draft rankings because of a heart issue detected during NFL’s scouting combine.

Once an assumed first-round pick, Hurst posed some serious questions in regard to how available he would be to play. But he has since put those concerns to rest.

In just 13 games played last season, Hurst led his team in sacks and proved to be a menace at the line. He has changed the perception about him from potential draft bust due to health concerns to a bona fide top defensive tackle in the division.

Hurst should be expected to continue making huge strides. He should be able to accumulate 7.5 sacks on his own, especially with the pressure of responsibility being lightly alleviated thanks to the addition of Ferrell.

Even with the success, it will still be a somewhat tough pill to swallow knowing that the Raiders could have still used Mack as their defensive end.

It’ll be Ferrell’s responsibility, ultimately, to finally silence those “what if’s.”