How many games will we win this season?

[BayRaider]

Here’s the thread from last year:

Only @OG_C2X said 7 in public (poll private). I said 6. 
 

I think we should also have a “Final Prediction Thread” in August right before the season, as we’ll have all the information we need then. 

[raider4567]

I think that you have to start at do you believe that we improved more then the others in our division. Maybe I am drinking the raider punch. I feel our defense is much better. From the draft and free agency. I think our offense has weapons and will be hard to stop if we stay healthy. I think we are going to Win games that may surprise you. I said 10 wins . 

[BayRaider]

Note: That thread was while Antonio Brown was our WR1. And the most voted prediction was 7-9. 
 

After the Brown debacle, most fans were predicting 5-11 and 6-10 after his release. 

[Totty]

15 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

I’ll respectfully disagree here. He is on a 10 year contract. His seat will get warm if he misses the playoffs next year or goes 5-11 or worse this year. 

Don't forget the money he's getting.  It's been long enough to show some improvement.  We exceeded expectations last year.  We should be in line for a 8-12 win season.  Especially going into Vegas.  Mark will want us contending this year.  To maximize profit.  I think if we aren't in contention it gets warm in the front office.  Agree to disagree. 

[jimkelly02]

I voted for 9.  I think we did a slightly poor to average at best job of getting value in the draft and UDFA signings but the amount of draft capital we had allowed us to make a Good amount of improvement to the team.  
 

We still have 8M+ in cap space to sign some FAs and fill in some holes in our team.  I think we still need a RB.  I am absolutely not satisfied with Lynn Bowden and Jalen Richard being capable of carrying the ball enough to limit Jacobs wear and tear (we cant run him into the ground next year) let alone stepping in for him if he misses a game or two.  Carlos Hyde or Devonte Freeman would be perfect RBs for us.  Sure we could always see if any RBs get cut at the deal line but I’d rather have a competent veteran RB who spent the whole summer with us and knows the system over a just slightly better RB whose new to the team the week of our first game.  And I don’t see many better RBs then those two being released so we should just sign one right away.  What could they realistically be asking for at most?  3M?  Mayock should be solidifying our RB2 roster spot instead of signing Nick Powers and a bunch other ridiculously poor quality UDFAs.  Why even sign these guys to begin with?  We should be looking to sign a few more FAs to value deals in the next week to weeks.  You can leave a few spots open for these FAs.
 

We really should add some competition at safety.  Abrams, Randal, Harris, Heath will likely make the team but what if someone gets injured and what about competition to push them?  Leavitt isn’t pushing anyone and UDFA J.White isn’t much competition, and might me moved to LB.  we shoulda signed a decent UDFA to compete but didn’t so the only thing left to do is sign a veteran like Curtis Riley, Tedric Thompson, Montae Nicholson, Bryden Trawick, etc.  I don’t expect them to make the team but if someone gets hurt in camp at least we can sign them back, if their still available.

We really should bring in competition for Parker at LT2.  He could be a nice backup RT but will never be a competent LT backup.  Even if we keep him because he improves and shows potential in camp on the left side, we should at least give him competition.  Unfortunately I don’t see any vet FAs available who would do this.  Their either likely looking for a starting job still or just not any good.

We really should bring back Dion Jordan fo the DL.  His versatility and length was a great addition.  I’ve talked about this at length.  We didn’t upgrade at DE or DL in the draft or UDFA so we should be on the phone working on a deal this week.

We should be resigning Worley to at least compete for a roster spot.  We still need competition at outside CB.

We still need to solidify the entire LB core with a veteran, preferably a SAM.  Will Compton could be resigned for depth too. He’s a good ST player as well.  Nigel Bradham is out there in FA and is a nice starting SAM, decent in coverage.  I thought I was Marquel Lee’s biggest supporter but I’d be shocked if STer Kyle Wilber is his only competition in camp.  I’d be shocked if Tanner Muse contributed much at LB this year, he’s a long term project but day 1 core STer (he should take Wilber’s roster spot).  That leaves Kwiatkowski at MLB, Littleton at WILL with Morrow backing him up, and Lee at SAM.  The quality of the LBs for camp is garbage besides Coney and Eligwe and even they are realistic options to make the team.  We really should just cut 1-2 of Donnerson, Poling, Usher, Moncrief and bring in Will Compton and or a veteran FA like Bradham or Ogletree.  If were not hot on Bradham’s fit with the team we could wait and see if anyone else becomes available.  But we should sign a CB like Worley and definitely design D.Jordan for the DL.

We typically see some veterans get cut after the draft.  Plus, it’s smart to long resign guys like Worley, Jordan, and Compton until after the draft cause you could draft players at their positions.  Over the next 2 weeks we should be addressing filling the remaining holes.  A few nice yet small Additions and we could be a playoff team.  But at the moment we have some moderate weaknesses.

[BayRaider]

If I gave every AFC West team a two game window here are my personal thoughts: 

Kansas City Chiefs 12-13 wins

Las Vegas Raiders 7-8 wins

Denver Broncos 7-8 wins

Los Angeles Chargers 6-7 wins

Definitely no scrubs in this division. I think it has potential to be the best after the NFC West and NFC South. Although, a distant third. 
 

A positive note, I think this will be the last year the Chiefs will be dominant. They are about to be in cap hell with Mahomes, and going to lose Chris Jones. 2021 and beyond, I see a wildcard team. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by BayRaider

[ronjon1990]

I went with 9-7. 10-6, maaaaybe a surprise 11-5, if our key additions have an early impact. 

We were a worse team last year with 2 rookie ends, a banged up secondary, and replacement level LBs on D. On offense, Williams, Waller, and Renfrow were new to the system and Williams was injured. Plus, who knows how much the offense was tailored to fit Antonio last year. 

If there's anything I was proud of from last year, it's that the team showed grit and had a decent chance at the WC late in the year. Conley busted, Burfict was suspended, Joseph got hurt, and Abraham got hurt. 

I'll nag about certain moves, but our early 2019 season was as dysfunctional as it could get, and eventually caught up to us. I don't want to set a high bar, but I'm also hesitant to set it too low as we've improved and got healthier since. I may complain a bit about personell moves, bit I'll give our boys some credit. 

[RaidersAreOne]

I say 9 wins. 

[jimkelly02]

2 hours ago, Totty said:

Don't forget the money he's getting.  It's been long enough to show some improvement.  We exceeded expectations last year.  We should be in line for a 8-12 win season.  Especially going into Vegas.  Mark will want us contending this year.  To maximize profit.  I think if we aren't in contention it gets warm in the front office.  Agree to disagree. 

My understanding was the Gruden deal was 5 years at 5M per with a option to retain him for another 5y @ 10M per.  So Gruden is well paid but nothing crazy.

i think Mark Davis will give a long leash to Gruden.  Gruden is such a iconic coach, especially to this franchise.  And it seems like we’ve been building a solid team and FO core.  Mark is almost guaranteed to react to late in firing him then too soon.  It’d have 2 bad years in ‘20 and ‘21 before we move on from Gruden.  If Carr fails in ‘20 Gruden still has the angle that Mariota or a drafted QB is the answer.  It’d take A 2-4 win season to move on from Gruden IMO.  As long as we’re 5-11/6-10 and there’s a general sense that we can turn things around with a few position changes (mainly QB) or improving Defense more then Gruden isn’t on the hot seat.  I don’t see many better options than Gruden being available either.  I think Davis sell every angle possible (like acquiring a new QB and New Def Coordinator ... even hiring a real offensive coordinator) before we move on from Gruden.  

[bucksavage1]

Raiders are always tied to the road games we play in the East.

 

Our non conference schedule looks brutal. Colts, Bills along with the Saints, Bucs and Falcons are going to be better.  All will be tough games. Browns have a lot of talent as well.

I honestly see a 6 win team floor and a 9 win max. Never know what team could bottom out in our schedule

[Totty]

39 minutes ago, jimkelly02 said:

My understanding was the Gruden deal was 5 years at 5M per with a option to retain him for another 5y @ 10M per.  So Gruden is well paid but nothing crazy.

i think Mark Davis will give a long leash to Gruden.  Gruden is such a iconic coach, especially to this franchise.  And it seems like we’ve been building a solid team and FO core.  Mark is almost guaranteed to react to late in firing him then too soon.  It’d have 2 bad years in ‘20 and ‘21 before we move on from Gruden.  If Carr fails in ‘20 Gruden still has the angle that Mariota or a drafted QB is the answer.  It’d take A 2-4 win season to move on from Gruden IMO.  As long as we’re 5-11/6-10 and there’s a general sense that we can turn things around with a few position changes (mainly QB) or improving Defense more then Gruden isn’t on the hot seat.  I don’t see many better options than Gruden being available either.  I think Davis sell every angle possible (like acquiring a new QB and New Def Coordinator ... even hiring a real offensive coordinator) before we move on from Gruden.  

Everything I have read had him at 10 mil per.  I'll double check but I thought that it was 10/100.  

IF that is the case, I can see a hot seat sooner rather than later because they're wanting butts in seats over anything and that requires a winning product in Las Vegas.  When the Dolphins aren't winning look at their stands.  Empty.  It's another town where there is always another option for entertainment.  Something else to do.  Bottom line with this move is money.  I like your takes I just think if we bomb it again this year Gruden will be running out of excuses.  Not saying he gets fired but there will most definitely be chatter and rumors. 

[daineraider]

I see us winning 8 or 9 games.  We should be a more complete team than last year, but in our division I don’t feel like this draft moved the needle enough for us.  FA was solid, but we played some good teams this year.  I can see an outside chance at 10 wins and a wild card spot, but we will need some of these rookie WRs to step up big time to get there.

[Jerry]

https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/2020/08/19/espn-gives-raiders-a-9-7-ceiling-for-2020-season/

https://www.nfl.com/news/raiders-among-dark-horse-playoff-contenders-in-2020

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/29688371/ceilings-floors-all-32-nfl-teams-2020-how-get-there#LV (Insider Article where Gutierrez states the biggest variable to us winning games is whether or not we can close out games.)

Wanted to bring this back up.  I feel like 9-7 is too low for our "ceiling".  Feel like we should be between 7-9 and 11-5.  We went 7-9 last season and I really think our roster is much better at several positions (WR, TE, LB, S, CB, and DT) compared to last year's roster.

I wanted to come back to this subject and see what others are thinking as we get closer to the start of the season.

 

[Darbsk]

16 minutes ago, Jerry said:

https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/2020/08/19/espn-gives-raiders-a-9-7-ceiling-for-2020-season/

https://www.nfl.com/news/raiders-among-dark-horse-playoff-contenders-in-2020

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/29688371/ceilings-floors-all-32-nfl-teams-2020-how-get-there#LV (Insider Article where Gutierrez states the biggest variable to us winning games is whether or not we can close out games.)

Wanted to bring this back up.  I feel like 9-7 is too low for our "ceiling".  Feel like we should be between 7-9 and 11-5.  We went 7-9 last season and I really think our roster is much better at several positions (WR, TE, LB, S, CB, and DT) compared to last year's roster.

I wanted to come back to this subject and see what others are thinking as we get closer to the start of the season.

 

Looking at what we have in camp right now I voted 9 wins.

For me, I think we finish 9-7 and scrape into playoffs as a wild card. This is the minimum expected though, anything less I will consider a big disappointment. I can see us potentially doing a couple games better or worse but as far as the FO goes we need to start delivering this season, potential has to be turned into production sooner or later and I don't fear the Chiefs, Broncos or Chargers all have vulnerabilities and it'll be a tight, good division.

As an afterthought, I think we scrape into the WC places but pull off a shock in the playoffs by knocking off a team like the Texans before losing out agonisingly in the next round.

[Bitty 2.0]

The Raiders will win 10 games, including KC at LV.