Last
year the Oakland Raiders were considered the laughingstock of the league, they
were chalked full of potential and looked like a potential playoff team on paper.
Then came the trade… as the opening of the season creeped up, the Raiders had
not come to an agreement with their star defensive lineman/linebacker Kahlil
Mack. This caused HC John Gruden to decide that the team could survive without Mack
as they hadn’t been good with him the season before. So off to Chicago Mack
went and the Raiders prepared for their season with the players they had. This
was the case moving forward as the Raiders underachieved on the offensive side
of the ball, this was the reason why Gruden moved on from star wideout Amari
Cooper. Who he traded to the Dallas Cowboys giving the Raiders a total of 3 1st
round draft picks for this year’s draft in which they used to add some players
that should be able to help the team in the upcoming year on both sides of the ball?
They return RB Doug Martin and brought in some other vets like embattled
o-lineman Richie Incognito. This up coming season will answer a lot of
questions about the Raiders and even more about Gruden. For now, let’s take a
look at some stats and a couple of camp battles that should be interesting to
say the least…
Record: 4-12 Last in AFC West
Team Leaders
·
Passing Yards: QB Derek Carr (4049yrds)
·
Rushing Yards: RB Doug Martin (723yrds)
·
Receiving Yards: TE Jared Cook (896yrds)
·
Tackles: LB T. Whitehead (126tckls)
·
Interceptions: DB M.Gilchrist (3ints)
·
Sacks: DL M.Hurst (4scks)
·
Fumble Recovery: DL J.Hankins (2fr)
Team Stats
·
PPG: 18.1 ppg
·
Touchdowns: 30 TD’s
·
Passing: 234ypg
·
Rushing: 102ypg
·
Opp Pass: 240ypg
·
Opp Rush: 141ypg
·
Turnover Ratio: -7
·
Opp Turnover Ratio: +7
Training Camp Battles
Strong Safety
·
Projected Starter: S Karl Joseph
·
In the Hunt: J Abram
This position was a position of need for the
Raiders last season, as their secondary was one of the worst in the NFL last
season. There should be some growth from Karl Joseph, but he wasn’t that good
last season, so the improvement will have to be dramatic for there to be
significant improvement. Abram is a solid safety that must learn the defense
and get up to speed with the NFL, that shouldn’t take too long as he was a
strong competitor for Mississippi State and helped them be a respectable defense.
So, this will be one camp battle that we should really keep an eye on in the
coming weeks leading up to the season. With newly acquired LaMarcus Joyner at
the other safety whoever wins the position will have an amazing running mate.
Linebacker
·
Projected Starter: Vontez Burfict
·
In the Hunt: T.Whitehead
This will be interesting because both me are
vets who have experience playing that outside linebacker position. But the
favorite at this point is Burfict as he is the one that has that edge that Gruden
likes to see out of his defensive guys. But Whitehead is a 7-year vet that can
make an impact without necessarily having to be in the starting lineup. Therefore,
I expect Burfict will be the starter going into the season, but Whitehead will
probably see more time on the field as the younger of the two. But we will have
to wait until after training camp finishes before we get a clearer picture of
what this team will look like…
If you want to listen to the Double K’s Classroom Podcast
tune in at
every other Friday Night on the 4ACES Presents Radio
Network…
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