Raiders sign WR Willie Snead

[ronjon1990]

15 minutes ago, Frankie2Gunz said:

No quality players want to sign or play for the dumpster fire known as the Raiders organization/Gruden.  It's pretty embarrassing that we had 40 million in cap space and walked away with minimal impact.  We have improved our edge rush with YN and our RB depth with Drake but besides that it's been pretty pathetic considering how little depth and talent we have.

Say it for what it is, Frankie!

We upgraded on the only real solid player we've got on D not named Mullen and signed a luxury RB2 for seemingly no reason other than to arbitrarily pay more for a RB2 while ignoring legitimate needs. 

People can sugarcoat it, but it's true. 

We've gotten worse by stuffing the roster with more replacement talent at positions of need yet again. 

We signed A LOT of guys, sure, but how many are upgrades from last year? Drake? The least necessary signing we made? 

Our answer to Crosby being our only pass rush is to stuff the rest of the DL with even more rotational back end of roster guys and use our money to instead pull Crosby from his starting role? Seriously? Where are the "but young guys need to play" crowd on that? The one young guy in our front 7 who produces is now being relegated to a rotational position. Why not any of the other ones who don't actually produce?

Hell, we managed to create a need by Gruden and Mayock simply being here, and we've even managed to bungle that situation spectacularly. We lost Rodney Hudson, signed Nick Martin, and gave Andre James an extension for a handful of bad snaps...🤦🏼‍♂️...just, why?

Gruden and Mayock are clearly just winging it. There's no plan. There's no semblance of a strategy. And yet the Neros fiddle away, preaching patience and contradictions. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by ronjon1990

[NYRaider]

2 hours ago, drfrey13 said:

So we now have 3 sub 6' speed WRs, 1 sub 6' slot WR, and a 6'3" unproven 2nd year player that has upside and close to 0 production.  I guess they were not sure Ruggs or Brown could duplicate Agholor's production.  Meanwhile Carr is still going to get killed and our defense will probably give up way to many yards while still not being able to get off the field.  Hopefully they will be able to play above their talent with better coaching but right now they do not have top 25 talent.  Going to be another frustrating season.

What did we have last season? Nelly was 6'0 tall, does that one inch make a huge difference? Our two leading WR's were Agholor and Renfrow. And despite not getting a ton of production from Ruggs/Edwards Carr still had arguably the best year of his career and we had a top 10 offense. 

[NYRaider]

13 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

We upgraded on the only real solid player we've got on D not named Mullen and signed a luxury RB2 for seemingly no reason other than to arbitrarily pay more for a RB2 while ignoring legitimate needs. 

Our answer to Crosby being our only pass rush is to stuff the rest of the DL with even more rotational back end of roster guys and use our money to instead pull Crosby from his starting role? Seriously? 

I think Drake will make a big impact for us and will help keep Jacobs fresh. He's a dynamic receiver out of the backfield as well and should help our passing game. 

Yannick Ngakoue is one of the premier edge rushers in the league and we added him to our rotation. 

[ronjon1990]

1 minute ago, NYRaider said:

What did we have last season? Nelly was 6'0 tall, does that one inch make a huge difference? Our two leading WR's were Agholor and Renfrow. And despite not getting a ton of production from Ruggs/Edwards Carr still had arguably the best year of his career and we had a top 10 offense. 

But look at what was sorely missed last year. 

Look, I loved Nelly. Absolutely loved him. I'm still pissed we let him go. 

But our RZ offense consisted of Waller and Witten. How many times did we stall out in the RZ? We lacked big bodies that could box out defenders and high point balls. 

Nobody is saying we should exclusively sign 6'5+ WRs, but our offense was decidedly labored by having small WRs and one-trick deep threats, particularly as zones tightened and the field got shorter. 

Agholor and Renfrow feasted on being able to get open. In fact, that's the core essense of their game. Once the field of play was shortened, we decidedly struggled and stalled.

[NYRaider]

13 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

But look at what was sorely missed last year. 

Look, I loved Nelly. Absolutely loved him. I'm still pissed we let him go. 

But our RZ offense consisted of Waller and Witten. How many times did we stall out in the RZ? We lacked big bodies that could box out defenders and high point balls. 

Nobody is saying we should exclusively sign 6'5+ WRs, but our offense was decidedly labored by having small WRs and one-trick deep threats, particularly as zones tightened and the field got shorter. 

Agholor and Renfrow feasted on being able to get open. In fact, that's the core essense of their game. Once the field of play was shortened, we decidedly struggled and stalled.

IIRC Drake has as many TD's in the red zone as any RB in the NFL over the past two seasons. And Moreau had 5 TD's in the red zone as a rookie. 

[Frankie2Gunz]

11 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

But look at what was sorely missed last year. 

Look, I loved Nelly. Absolutely loved him. I'm still pissed we let him go. 

But our RZ offense consisted of Waller and Witten. How many times did we stall out in the RZ? We lacked big bodies that could box out defenders and high point balls. 

Nobody is saying we should exclusively sign 6'5+ WRs, but our offense was decidedly labored by having small WRs and one-trick deep threats, particularly as zones tightened and the field got shorter. 

Agholor and Renfrow feasted on being able to get open. In fact, that's the core essense of their game. Once the field of play was shortened, we decidedly struggled and stalled.

100 percent spot on.  Combine exactly what you've mentioned with the fact that we've signed no physical/ big bodied/ high volume/ RZ threat WR's and we've downgraded our Oline....  It literally makes no sense at all and is quite apparent that our leadership completely lacks direction and a game plan. 

[ronjon1990]

9 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

I think Drake will make a big impact for us and will help keep Jacobs fresh. He's a dynamic receiver out of the backfield as well and should help our passing game. 

Yannick Ngakoue is one of the premier edge rushers in the league and we added him to our rotation. 

And that's great that Drake can do that. I want Jacobs rested, as we've already seen the results of him getting the DeMarco Murray treatment. But RBs are a dime a dozen, and we all bought the "RBs in the passing game" hook last year...and well...yeah. 

Drake was a luxury signing. Not saying he was a bad one, but it was definitely a luxury one when we have other needs that need addressing. 

 

As for Yannick, again, cool, he had some nice seasons surrounded by more talented guys. And maybe he replicates and/or builds on that success around the lesser talent we have. 

That still doesn't address the problem. Our only consistent pass rusher was Crosby, who Yannick is going to replace on the field. We signed someone to fix the one spot that was arguably not broken while doing the same old song and dance with the actually broken ones. What kind of strategy is that? It isn't a viable one, that's for sure. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I hope Yannick blows up for us. But he hasn't taken a lone, solitary snap for us, and Crosby was on a similar pace of production for us despite not playing around any players of note like Yannick did. That's the furthest thing from a sure bet as one can get. Yannick has been good, but he's far from a savior for a defense. And if we surround Yannick with the same crap we did Crosby, what good does that do? Is Yannick a better player than Crosby? Almost certainly. But Crosby was one of our top 3 defensive players along with Mullen and Kwit, and the only improvement we've made with all the cap space we had came in the form of removing him from the field. How is that a tangible improvement? We've got 2 solid pass rushers instead of 1, yes, but only 1 will be on the field while there's still the same level of garbage is being produced by 7 or 8 of the players out there. And we still have not addressed ANY of those weak spots. 

[Humble_Beast]

not bad. obviously Gruden loves vet WRs, hopefully the vets push Ruggs/Edwards to be better players and learn the game. Solid player and we have good depth at WR unit. Probably looks better with DC or Lamar Jackson throwing ducks. Well I don't think we are drafting a WR now, good I hope we add 7 defensive players and 1 RT

Edited March 26, 2021 by Humble_Beast

[ronjon1990]

4 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

IIRC Drake has as many TD's in the red zone as any RB in the NFL over the past two seasons. And Moreau had 5 TD's in the red zone as a rookie. 

Nobody is questioning Drakes ability. I'm surprised Arizona let him go. But that doesn't negate the fact he was a luxury signing while we've left glaring holes wide open. He was in different schemes as well, for what that's worth. We have more pressing needs than a luxury RB2. 

As for Moreau, yes, we all hope he imrpoves on his 2019 numbers. But he wouldn't be the first guy to fall off a cliff, either. And if the answer to our RZ woes is using 2 TE sets left and right, we're screwed. Gruden''s 2 TE sets are painfully vanilla and stale to the point of being able to call a play from the lineup and situation alone. He had a fine rookie year and did virtually nothing last year. Until he does, I'm certainly not holding my breath he's anything more than a flash in the pan. He's better than Witten at this stage, this is true, but it wasn't so much Witten being incapable as it was the play designs that became as repetitive as my girlfriend complaining about me keeping her late every Sunday night/Monday morning to catch our games live. 

[ronjon1990]

5 minutes ago, Humble_Beast said:

not bad. obviously Gruden loves vet WRs, hopefully the vets push Ruggs/Edwards to be better players and learn the game. Solid player and we have good depth at WR unit. Probably looks better with DC or Lamar Jackson throwing ducks. Well I don't think we are drafting a WR now, good I hope we add 7 defensive players and 1 RT

With all the nobodies we collected, we're more likely to draft 3 defensive players, a long snapper, a kicker, a punter, and a designated kick holder.

If we roll in with much more in terms of defensive players, we're going to be known for practically giving money away to guys who have no shot at making a roster.

Edited March 26, 2021 by ronjon1990

[Jeremy408]

45 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

I think Drake will make a big impact for us and will help keep Jacobs fresh. He's a dynamic receiver out of the backfield as well and should help our passing game. 

Yannick Ngakoue is one of the premier edge rushers in the league and we added him to our rotation. 

Yeah I didn't like that signing at first but it's actually growing on me (especially if he's going to be used more in the passing game). 

I think Ngakoue's impact on the defense goes without saying

[MrOaktown_56]

Honestly outside of the James extension and being forced to trade Hudson I’ve been a fan of the off-season so far. We need those secondary vets/OL, and a good draft though.

[Humble_Beast]

wish we had the depth we have on offense with our defense too

[Jeremy408]

20 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

And that's great that Drake can do that. I want Jacobs rested, as we've already seen the results of him getting the DeMarco Murray treatment. But RBs are a dime a dozen, and we all bought the "RBs in the passing game" hook last year...and well...yeah. 

Drake was a luxury signing. Not saying he was a bad one, but it was definitely a luxury one when we have other needs that need addressing. 

 

As for Yannick, again, cool, he had some nice seasons surrounded by more talented guys. And maybe he replicates and/or builds on that success around the lesser talent we have. 

That still doesn't address the problem. Our only consistent pass rusher was Crosby, who Yannick is going to replace on the field. We signed someone to fix the one spot that was arguably not broken while doing the same old song and dance with the actually broken ones. What kind of strategy is that? It isn't a viable one, that's for sure. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I hope Yannick blows up for us. But he hasn't taken a lone, solitary snap for us, and Crosby was on a similar pace of production for us despite not playing around any players of note like Yannick did. That's the furthest thing from a sure bet as one can get. Yannick has been good, but he's far from a savior for a defense. And if we surround Yannick with the same crap we did Crosby, what good does that do? Is Yannick a better player than Crosby? Almost certainly. But Crosby was one of our top 3 defensive players along with Mullen and Kwit, and the only improvement we've made with all the cap space we had came in the form of removing him from the field. How is that a tangible improvement? We've got 2 solid pass rushers instead of 1, yes, but only 1 will be on the field while there's still the same level of garbage is being produced by 7 or 8 of the players out there. And we still have not addressed ANY of those weak spots. 

100% agree With what you said about Kenyan drake

However with Ngakoue he's not simply replacing Max Crosby. He allows Crosby To come in on Thursday down and be what he actually is which is a third down complementary rusher(Remember Crosby was our primary pass rusher and had 10 sacks his First year and 7 last year) It also gives us a chance do use Ferrell inside on third down rather than on the outside out of necessity. I also don't think he had better players around him. He's never had less than eight sacks in a season which speaks to his consistency(consistency we haven't had since Khalil Mack.) Even if we're not talking about sacks, the guy gets a lot of pressure as well.

And im definitely not Saying that he needs to be the savior of the Defense or that he will be. I just think a lot of us on here are underselling this one. Like I've stated before I think a lot of issues that are beside the pass rush have to do with the combination defensive coordinator and the scheme we ran that really didnt fit The players were drafted which was really head scratching.

[big_palooka]

1 hour ago, Frankie2Gunz said:

No quality players want to sign or play for the dumpster fire known as the Raiders organization/Gruden.  It's pretty embarrassing that we had 40 million in cap space and walked away with minimal impact.  We have improved our edge rush with YN and our RB depth with Drake but besides that it's been pretty pathetic considering how little depth and talent we have.

And still some will convince themselves adding a FS makes this team a playoff contender. 

Reality is, unless these recent early draft picks dramatically flip a switch, this is a 6 win team. This Oline is going to be suspect, the offense is going to struggle to be consistent. And the defense is still awful.