Honestly do you think we're better?

[G]

At THIS time last year on paper. I think we look a lot better than this time now.

DE Mack, Edwards (We all know I went 'dark' after Mack trade but he was on our team before the draft and Edwards we still had hope for because of his rookie season)

DT Jelly and Vanderdoes (Explains why we took /Hall in the 2nd and we're lucky to get Hurst with our 5th. Hankins was also a great addition but all later that 1 year ago)

LB's Irvin, (moved to DE was mistake) Whitehead and JAGS...

CB Melvin (looked good in Indy but not a fit here) Conley, Hall, Worley I think was added before draft.

S Joseph and Gilchrist (Gilchrist was supposed to be a solid vet but being Nelson saw the field and Joseph not til late it was worse than 'on paper'

QB Carr, Manuel and Cook (McCarran was lost draft capital done later) Mike Mayock gives me 'hope' that draft capital will become more important going forward.

WR Cooper and either Crabtree or Nelson not sure when that all went down. Cooper is a good WR no matter how many here had 'hate' for his consistency. TE Cook

RB Lynch happy and motivated, Richard, Washington

C Hudson, Jackson, Osomele, Penn all Pro Bowl level starters recently. RT was always a weakness

Looking at that it looks like a pretty good team, but we know that's not what hit the field and 'on paper' it looks better than we do now. We also had the draft to look forward to.

Oline fell apart in the new system and looked like they gave up and had injuries. Which is Carr's weakness as he needs a clean pocket (same with Brady)

 

QB is currently still the same. I say currently as I'm not sure after what happened last year with Mack.

WR Brown is a stud but we gave up capital and huge cap room. If he gets 1200-1500 yards then a STEAL but paper looks improved esp. Williams being young and fits in with other stars around.

TE/RB Richard and? Cook walking so a bunch of guys that are probably JAGS. Draft capital expected here. Major decline to last year MAJOR!

Oline Penn and Oso gone for cap room for Brown who had a great season but isn't a proven commodity. Highest paid and has two years to prove worth it. Hudson and Jackson are good and Good is a solid player in the system from last year. Miller and Parker should be better. I call this a wash. System made a good line bad. Hopefully Brown excels in this system but he should be better than Penn. We spent a lot of cap but countered it with cut/trade.

DE Key and?!? Mauro? SERIOUS, SERIOUS NEED FOR HELP. Draft capital expected here

DT Hankins, Jelly, Hall, Hurst, Vanderdoes (Much improved and trade/cut possible) If 'Q' falls I could see us still taking him because he's too damn good if Bosa/Allen are gone.

LB's Whitehead, Burfict and JAGS. Cabinda, Lee, Morrow are great depth and hopefuly develop but JAGS overrated here because it's what we do.

CB's Conley, Worley, (same) Lawson and Nelson are not better than what Melvin could have been. Almost a wash but could go either way with this.

S Joseph (same) Joyner should be better than Gilchrist but Wade Phillips might have made Joyner better than he is. Riley is better than Nelson even if he can't tackle. At least he'll be with the receiver and might get a pick or three. Harris is a JAG with much needed size to develop.

So I see a worse team on paper than last year. HOWEVER the team QUIT early last season and started trying late in the season just in time to lose us the #1 pick LOL

I think we'll win more games but not many. 6-10 if were lucky but draft could fall in place if we're lucky and that would make us 8-8 with a chance to fight late in the season to try be a team in the hunt for the playoffs. Maybe some cuts after the draft (if we keep some cap) could push us to 10-6 but realistically 4-6 wins with this roster and unknown scheme fit with our line and Cable.

 

So...Honestly do you think we are better on paper than this time last year? If so then why? I'm looking for some 'light' in the darkness here. Not an arguement.

Bosa, Hockenson and two more 1st round talents that slip will hopefully be that light but until the draft the precious is to heavy of a burden.  

 

 

[drfrey13]

Couple things going in our favor is 1) the system is the same so in year 2 you should see some improvement and 2) unless we lose 80% of our line to injury they should be better.  The line is the first domino that needs to fall for us to get better.  I do expect some hiccups while the players get use to each other but we should not have a morale killing issue like the Mack trade again this year.

Depending on what we do in the draft we should very easily upgrade a couple positions talent wise.  You can not count Mack as a part of the team because he played no games for us.  Although it was not all his choice him holding out and getting traded was a net negative to this team last year and it will be beneficial to the team this year.  I am not going to argue who is better between AB and Cooper but for this team if Carr is willing to get AB the ball he will be an upgrade to the team over Cooper.  Last but not least Carr has a much improved line just because every position will have a player that should be considered at the very least an average player.  That along with a second year in Gruden's complex offense should pay off.  He may or may not live up to his contract but he should be much improved this year.

Are we improved yes.  For one simple reason and that is they should be able to trust each other and the coaches more than they did last year.  The dissension in the locker room is gone and it is a new beginning.  Hopefully we stay competitive early and pull out a couple wins.  If we start 0-4 we might have some serious issues but with a couple wins Carr and Gruden should be able to hold onto the locker room.  We will be between 6-9 wins depending on our plus or minus TO.

[Jerry]

Simply put, the passing game should be much better. We need a tight end to solidify it into a very solid and intimidating unit. We need a running back. Our running game will probably stay the same with Richard and CW3 and a slightly improved line. T. Brown is an upgrade at OT. Brandon Parker and K. Miller will be healthy with a year of experience under their belts. The defense will lose us every single game this year if we don't address the pass rush. I wouldn't complain if we drafted three DEs in the first two rounds. Not at all. We can win games, but the most important thing we need to do next is address the pass rush. Without a pass rush, it's another lost season. We need double digit sack artists bad.

[MrOaktown_56]

11 hours ago, Jerry said:

Simply put, the passing game should be much better. We need a tight end to solidify it into a very solid and intimidating unit. We need a running back. Our running game will probably stay the same with Richard and CW3 and a slightly improved line. T. Brown is an upgrade at OT. Brandon Parker and K. Miller will be healthy with a year of experience under their belts. The defense will lose us every single game this year if we don't address the pass rush. I wouldn't complain if we drafted three DEs in the first two rounds. Not at all. We can win games, but the most important thing we need to do next is address the pass rush. Without a pass rush, it's another lost season. We need double digit sack artists bad.

We need minimum of 3 picks on that defense, but we could probably address 3 needs on O as well (RB, TE, WR). We're a lot closer than I thought we'd be. Let's see how this draft plays out. I'm excited to see how Mayock moves up and down.

I'd love to move 24 up into the top 20 and move 27 down to the 2nd, if it allows us to get 2 premium defensive players (e.g. quinnen, sweat/bush/ferrell) and perhaps recoup that 3rd rounder. I think Mayock will work some magic.

[drfrey13]

7 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

We need minimum of 3 picks on that defense, but we could probably address 3 needs on O as well (RB, TE, WR). We're a lot closer than I thought we'd be. Let's see how this draft plays out. I'm excited to see how Mayock moves up and down.

I'd love to move 24 up into the top 20 and move 27 down to the 2nd, if it allows us to get 2 premium defensive players (e.g. quinnen, sweat/bush/ferrell) and perhaps recoup that 3rd rounder. I think Mayock will work some magic.

If we can move up and get 2 d-line talents in the first I would be very excited.  I would stay at 27 if Noah or Fant are there since that would be great value and it looks like there is a good possibility of it happening.  Also if some other great talent falls that no one is expecting.  Otherwise trade back and recoup that 3rd and hopefully there is a good front 7 player, preferably LB, still there at 35.

[G]

19 hours ago, Jerry said:

 I wouldn't complain if we drafted three DEs in the first two rounds. Not at all.

With that in mind I just did this on Fanspeak...LOL

 

OAKLAND RAIDERS

YOUR PICKS

1: R1P4

 EDGE JOSH ALLEN

KENTUCKY

2: R1P24

 EDGE MONTEZ SWEAT

MISSISSIPPI STATE

3: R1P27

 DL DEXTER LAWRENCE

CLEMSON

4: R2P3

EDGE RASHAN GARY

MICHIGAN

 

Almost picked Gary over Lawrence but figured Hankins we'll keep for 2 years and cut Jelly after 2019 so Dexter is 5 year option.

It's overkill but the way it fell I just felt like throwing the kitchen sink at the problem. Still would need TE/RB in FA

EDIT: If Q, Allen and Bosa are gone I'd love to trade with NYG and get their 17 for our 27 or 35 and our 4th. Latter would mean 4 firsts so 5th year options and possible trade downs would fill the coffers.

[Jerry]

2 hours ago, G said:

With that in mind I just did this on Fanspeak...LOL

 

OAKLAND RAIDERS

YOUR PICKS

1: R1P4

 EDGE JOSH ALLEN

KENTUCKY

2: R1P24

 EDGE MONTEZ SWEAT

MISSISSIPPI STATE

3: R1P27

 DL DEXTER LAWRENCE

CLEMSON

4: R2P3

EDGE RASHAN GARY

MICHIGAN

 

Almost picked Gary over Lawrence but figured Hankins we'll keep for 2 years and cut Jelly after 2019 so Dexter is 5 year option.

It's overkill but the way it fell I just felt like throwing the kitchen sink at the problem. Still would need TE/RB in FA

EDIT: If Q, Allen and Bosa are gone I'd love to trade with NYG and get their 17 for our 27 or 35 and our 4th. Latter would mean 4 firsts so 5th year options and possible trade downs would fill the coffers.

Surprised to see Gary fall. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him drop to the 20s during the actual draft. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Chase beat him off the board. 

If this happened though I'd feel much better about our ability to compete this season. Maybe hit 8-8 even lol.

[Jerry]

9 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

We need minimum of 3 picks on that defense, but we could probably address 3 needs on O as well (RB, TE, WR). We're a lot closer than I thought we'd be. Let's see how this draft plays out. I'm excited to see how Mayock moves up and down.

I'd love to move 24 up into the top 20 and move 27 down to the 2nd, if it allows us to get 2 premium defensive players (e.g. quinnen, sweat/bush/ferrell) and perhaps recoup that 3rd rounder. I think Mayock will work some magic.

In Mayock I trust. 

[Humble_Beast]

ask me again after the draft

[Jerry]

4 hours ago, Humble_Beast said:

ask me again after the draft

Exactly what I was thinking.  We can't really tell if we are better until the season is over and we can simply compare our win-loss records.

[Darbsk]

I think we have to look purely at the personnel to answer the question here, we're not talking about chemistry etc. as if we'd kept the same players they would have had the same benefit. So from a recruitment/retention standpoint I think we've:

QB - same but with a change of backup which makes no real difference
RB - probably down graded slightly due to age and no additions yet
WR - improved our #1 but at least on paper compared to last year downgraded #2 and #3
TE - significant downgrade
OL - ignoring the Cableisation of the unit I think the personnel are about the same, lost a good OG, gained a good OT. Last year on paper Penn was our LT so that should be considered.
DL - massive downgrade, no explanation needed
LB - slight upgrade with Burfict but still very questionable
CB - Very similar, Lawson has strengths but also obvious weaknesses same as Melvin
S - upgraded Nelson for Joyner though Riley could be a wildcard
ST - should be much the same

Overall we've improved a couple areas and of course have the draft to bolster a few others but have downgraded massively a key area. If we land a couple of difference makers in the draft then overall I'd say we have a chance to improved overall personnel wise though of course the rookies aren't all going to contribute right away. As far as I can see considering the number of moves we've made we haven;t improved the actual personnel as much as I'd have hoped.

I am sure we will have improved on field from last year as chemistry, another year in the scheme and an extra year for the rookies will have made a big difference but in purely personnel decisions I don't think we've done too much improving so far compared to who we lost. Underwhelming to say the least. 

[Darbsk]

10 hours ago, Jerry said:

Exactly what I was thinking.  We can't really tell if we are better until the season is over and we can simply compare our win-loss records.

I don't think this is the point as it would be hypothetical to how we would have played given guys like Mack for a whole season, who of course was on the roster and a presumed starter this time last year. An dof course guys like Irvin, Cooper etc. would all have been affected by that. 

I think the point is (correct me if I'm wrong here G ) to look at the actual personnel we have and gauge whether the additions and subtractions have made the roster better.

[Rolni]

Since last year we had Mack and Cooper on roster this time and now we have draft picks in their places I would suggest to compare the two squads after the draft. That could give us a much better picture IMO.

[Jerry]

2 hours ago, Darbsk said:

I don't think this is the point as it would be hypothetical to how we would have played given guys like Mack for a whole season, who of course was on the roster and a presumed starter this time last year. An dof course guys like Irvin, Cooper etc. would all have been affected by that. 

I think the point is (correct me if I'm wrong here G ) to look at the actual personnel we have and gauge whether the additions and subtractions have made the roster better.

Well then the answer is absolutely not.  We would get completely blown out every game right now.  We have no pass rush whatsoever and would be beaten mercilessly by the 32nd ranked passing team.  Their QB could easily BBQ a steak behind the line while completing passes all over the field.  Mo Hurst would retire at half time during our first game of the season.  A. Key would be double teamed effortlessly and Mauro would hope the other team runs toward him (which probably wouldn't happen).  I would turn off my electricity and phone so that there was no way for me to view the onslaught that we would have to endure.  I would have to take antidepressants during the weeks that our team played against my coworker's teams.  I would probably purchase some Bose headphones for work so that I could listen to music instead of endure the smack talk that I would be receiving week in and week out.  I would have to unfriend some people on Facebook. 

I think everyone gets my point.  We have no pass rush at all, it was a huge reason why we couldn't win a lot of games.

[drfrey13]

I can't count Mack as a part of this team last year since he did not play a single snap for us and since our front office has such great timing we say zero benefit last year from losing him.