2019 Oakland Raiders Discussion

We have a good number of draft slots so...

RT Marshall Newhouse replaced by Breno Giacomini. By accounts read, a human turnstile. Great (rolls eyes).

 

Importance of Need - for Draft

I ranked the positions from gcc's post giving 6 points for biggest need down to 1 point for lowest on the list.

#6: DB
With the Nelson signing, I'm going to agree that DB should be low on the list, especially for the upcoming season.
Total Need Points: 2

#5: RB
I believe we need a feature RB, and I'd rather lock that up through the draft, but the other needs are too important to go for RB now.
Total Need Points: 4

#4: DL
Up front, we have Jelly, Edwards, Vanderdoes, and Carradine who can switch - with Hester and Latham as well. At the edge, we have Mack and Irvin (aging), with Ward and Calhoun. There are some promising players there, including our best player, and I'll say that I'd rather address the next position prior to this one. If we're drafting in the 4th round, there's a chance a player like Derrick Nnadi (#93 on PFF) or Tim Settle (#84) are long shots, but Uchenna Nwosu might be a more likely bet.
Total Need Points: 8

#3 WR
I don't trust Roberts, and I don't know that we have a consistent gamer on the roster at that position. That includes Cooper - it's show time for him. I'd be okay spending a pick on WR before round 5. Oakland's 4th rounder is just outside the top 100, meaning the Raiders have a shot at four top 100 players, statistically speaking. From PFF, Javon Wims is the 83rd ranked overall prospect. Tre'Quan Smith is 73rd ranked. He's a home run hitter, which is something that would be devastating next to Cooper. Equanimeous St. Brown is 70th - a Notre Dame product whose career I followed. He's not polished, but he was a big time player who had a knack for making big plays.
Total Need Points: 7

#2 Tackle
Penn is aging, and it's not clear what will happen at RT for the present. Oakland has excellent prospects along the offensive line, but none of them is yet clearly ready for the challenge. Brian O'Neill (76th), Tyrell Crosby (56th), and Jamarco Jones (36th) are possible. Orlando Brown (32nd) might be a stretch.
Total Need Points: 9

#1 MLB
Bowman or no, the Raiders need an MLB. Smith is the guy!
Total Need Points: 12

 

He grades out near the bottom. He wasn’t supposed to start, my brother says. He lives in Houston...

EDIT: "HE" the first two times is the OL we picked up from Houston. The last time, "he" is my brother.

 

Matching Need and Availability

Round 1
#10: Roquan Smith, LB, Georgia
-Rated 6.62 on NFL.com - Good NFL Starter w/ Pro Bowl Potential
--Raiders satisfy their greatest need and get a likely stalwart for years to come.

Round 2
#41:
Brian O'Neill, OT, Pitt
-Rated 5.71 on NFL.com

Chukwuma Okorafor, OT, Western Michigan
-Rated 5.6 on NFL.com
--Either O'Neill or Okorafor both have tremendous assets (athleticism for O'Neill and size for Okorafor). Either could begin rounding into a future LT. Both will need work.

Rasheem Green, DI, USC
-Rated 6.0 on NFL.com
--The only player that I might change my plans for. He won't be ready for a huge role this season, but he's going to be a beast.

Round 3
Tim Settle, DT, Virginia Tech
-Rated 5.9 on NFL.com

Da'Shawn Hand, DI, Alabama
-Rated 5.73 on NFL.com
--Assuming the Raiders add an OT in Round 2, it's time for DL. Hand projects as a run suffer. Settle has a questionable arrest on his record, but he's a big impact player.

Desmond Harrison, OT, West Georgia
-Rated 5.49 on NFL.com

Geron Christian, OT, Louisville
-Rated 5.53 on NFL.com
--If, for some reason, we don't go OL in Round 2, we could pick up an OL here. Harrison is a bit of a question mark, and he may be the type of player the Raiders want to avoid. Tremendous athleticism though. Christian can play both Tackle spots, so he'd be ideal - slide in at RT now and slide over to LT when Penn sails off.

Pause
If the Raiders land Smith, O'Neill, and Settle in the first three rounds, I'd be over the moon. Later rounds coming later.

 

^...always good to strengthen the trenches.

 

Round 4
#110
I'm certainly starting to look for best available, so this could get fluid at this point. If we go WR, some good ones:

DaeSean Hamilton, WR, Penn State
-Rated 5.7 on NFL.com

Equanimeous St. Brown, WR, Notre Dame
-Rated 5.69 on NFL.com
--Hamilton is apparently an incredibly high character guy who had some big numbers over his college career. St. Brown is a personal favorite of mine, and although he at times was neutralized, he also a) blocks well and b) was a clutch player.

If we add trench players:
Derrick Nnadi, DI, FSU
-Rated 5.79 on NFL.com

RJ McIntosh, DI, Miami
-Rated 5.61 on NFL.com

Alex Cappa, OT, Humboldt State
-Rated 5.42 on NFL.com

If we want secondary help:
Tony Brown, CB, Alabama
-Rated 5.6 on NFL.com

Round 5
#159
#171
With two selections...
If Josh Adams from Notre Dame is there, I take him without hesitation. He could become another "do little" in the NFL, but he could also become a feature back. Notre Dame RBs have found reasonably good success in the NFL of late, with four of their RBs since 2013 breaking into the NFL. Some fizzled out (Cierre Wood with 26 all-purpose yards in his career), but Theo Riddick has posted at least 40 rushes and 50 receptions in three straight seasons (19 TDs), and CJ Prosise has totaled 500 yards from scrimmage over the last two. Adams is the best pure runner I've seen at Notre Dame since at least the Bettis/Waters years, a better runner than Julius Jones.

So...
MLB Roquan Smith
OT Brian O'Neill
DT Tim Settle
WR Equanimeous St. Brown
RB Josh Adams

 

Rounds 5 and 6
Justin Jones, DT, NC State
-Rated 5.35

Brett Toth, OT, Army
-Rated 5.24 - an intriguing project

Jamarco Jones, OT, Ohio State
-Rated 5.86 - steady but low ceiling

Timon Parris, OT, Stony Brook
-Rated 5.51 - played both tackle spots

Deontay Burnett, WR, USC
-Rated 5.46

Javon Wims, WR, Georgia
-Rated 5.37

Kameron Kelly, S, SDSU
-Rated 5.34 (could also be a CB)

Round 6
#185:
#192:
#212:
#216:
#217:
--With 5 picks here, don't be surprised if the Raiders end up picking up a DL named Reginald Khalil McKenzie.

Tray Matthews, S, Auburn
-Rated 5.37

RECAP
MLB Roquan Smith
OT Brian O'Neill
DT Tim Settle
WR Equanimeous St. Brown
RB Josh Adams
OL JaMarco Jones
DL Reginald McKenzie
S Tray Mathews
(Plus some more...)

 

^WR St. Brown has received good reviews as a prospect. Probably will make a good possession receiver.

 

Walford released. Wow. That’s a huge organizational failure.

 

Walford was a physical specimen out of Da U. Drove me bonkers when he would drop sure fire third down catches to move the sticks...

 

A few interesting bits from recent Gruden interview (on Raiders.com):

1. Three Tight End Sets - get ready for them, but strangely we've gotten rid of Walford and Olawale. So this means Cook, Smith, and Carrier, probably, unless Gruden wants to add one in the draft.

2. Mario Edwards:
“I think with Mack, we’ve obviously got to get him signed somehow, but he is a spectacular player. I don’t think he’s scratched the surface yet. I think if we can get a better inside pass rush, a more consistent inside rush, a dominant inside rusher, you’d see the best of this guy. Some of the plays he’s disrupted that he hasn’t gotten credit for are really exciting for us to think what could happen. So Mario Edwards, if you’re listening out there, if we can get that inside rush going, that’s what Warren Sapp did for Simian Rice.”

Way Too Early Starters?:

OFFENSE
Carr/Lynch/Smith
Cooper/Cook/Nelson
Sharpe?/Jackson/Hudson/Osemele/Penn

DEFENSE
Mack/Edwards/Ellis/Irvin
James/Whitehead/Morrow
Conley/Melvin/Melifonwu/Joseph

 

Leon Hall CB... Part of the geriatric depth.

On a sad note: R.I.P. David Humm...

 

P King released... WTF?!

 

I’m not a fan of that move. We’d better do something tremendous with that cap space.

 

...me too. Maybe that Scott kid from 'Bama?

I'm starting to get annoyed about this offseason.

 

I’m mostly okay with the moves. The ones I don’t get are Giacomoni (sp?) tabbed as starter, King gone - so waiting to see what we do. The rest I can handle and even like.

 

Agree on Giacomoni and King. On the latter, I hope we a good replacement.

 

Special Teams Retooling
King was a top-five punter at PFF last season, and that's hard to compensate for, but you have to think that the Raiders have probably made wise moves at the kicking position. Warning: this might be spin. I don't know.

Punting, Kicking, and Long Snapping
Marquette King vs. Colby Wadman. Wadman is due $480k this season, $570k in 2019, and $660k in 2020. King made $5.25M in 2016, $2.5m last season, and was due more $2.9M (I think) this season. Wadman almost certainly gives less, but he frees up almost $3m in cap space by comparison. If he can be close to league average, and if the Raiders use the money wisely, it's a smart move. Also, there's interesting data AGAIN punting - showing that a good punter doesn't make much of a difference and a bad punter should probably never be used. Can we pretend all the data suggest this and just downplay the move entirely?

Sebastian Janikowski - vs. Giorgio Tavecchio. Tavecchio made 16 of 21 field goals, including 3/4 at 50+. He made 33 of 34 PATs. This means that he earned about 76% of the points he attempted to earn. Janikowski had earned 86% and 79% of the points he attempted to earn in his final two seasons. But note that he hit only 7 of 13 from 50+. So, Tavecchio WAS a drop off from what Jano was his final two seasons where he played, but Janikowski was trending down and was set to earn $3.36M in 2017 and who knows what in 2018 if he had still been with the team. Less, but not pennies. Tavecchio made $515K last year and about $560K this year. That's a savings of a few million dollars for no real change in performance. It's a tough move, but it's a money saving move.

Jon Condo vs. Andrew DePaola. Jon Condo made $1.08M last season, and DePaola's going to earn an average of over $800K over this four seasons (if the contract plays out). It's STILL a savings over what they were paying Condo, amazingly. And here's a case where the Raiders got value - by stats (7th most accurate long snapper in the NFL last season) and by $ (saving about $200K per season compared to Condo).

So, the Raiders have probably invested about $6M less this year than two years ago in special teams "skill" positions, but they've arguably improved two of them.

 

Davis reportedly selling his shares in the team?

 

04/01/18 Baby!