2024 Free Agency

[true2form]

We are where we are because of our not so distant past.  You make poor choices as an organization year after year and this is what happens.  I don't fault the current regime for where things stand, but it is their job to try and correct it.

Unfortunately, past failures and yes even middling success leaves us in no man's land.  Unless we get lucky or pull off a great trade, I'm not sure we can get out of the middle of the pack until we bottom out.   As usual, it will be an interesting and painful journey. 

[Bitty 2.0]

15 minutes ago, true2form said:

We are where we are because of our not so distant past.  You make poor choices as an organization year after year and this is what happens.  I don't fault the current regime for where things stand, but it is their job to try and correct it.

Unfortunately, past failures and yes even middling success leaves us in no man's land.  Unless we get lucky or pull off a great trade, I'm not sure we can get out of the middle of the pack until we bottom out.   As usual, it will be an interesting and painful journey. 

Hey, don’t be so gloom and doom. Most QBs drafted in the first round Bust away.

If we continue to build this team an average quarterback can take them deep in the playoffs.

[true2form]

8 minutes ago, Bitty 2.0 said:

Hey, don’t be so gloom and doom. Most QBs drafted in the first round Bust away.

If we continue to build this team an average quarterback can take them deep in the playoffs.

Sorry, just realistic.  Been on this train for a long time, so I know the stops pretty well.

[Bitty 2.0]

58 minutes ago, true2form said:

Sorry, just realistic.  Been on this train for a long time, so I know the stops pretty well.

The Raiders have been getting noticeably better at the talent standpoint for last five or six years.

[bucksavage1]

11 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

I feel like FA was sort of bland anyway. 

We landed a top tier DT. Seems like DT was the deepest position in FA, so there's only so much we could do. What was the alternative, sign 8 DTs?

The CB market, as far as lock downs, was non-existent. The few with potential are still available. 

QB was garbage. 

OL was pretty bland, so I'm not going to judge until after the draft. 

RB had some heavy hitters, but they were all clearly chasing rings and weren't going to come. 

WR was nonexistent. Ditto TE. 

We don't need to spend a bunch on edge rushers as we have 2 solid ones. Depth guys can still be had. 

LB was a bit of a whiff, I have to say, but there weren't many available I feel like we totally missed out on. LB on day 2 is fine. 

We don't need any S's. 

If FA is shallow at what you're looking for, there's not much you can do. A lot of guys we anticipated maybe being available didn't actually hit the market and those who did largely traded one deep playoff run team for another. Armistead and Aaron Jones are the only 2 I can think of that went to non-playoff teams and Armstead is clearly attaching his lot to Rodgers and his Saleh connection + we already made a DL splash, while Jones simply chose someone else amd RB1 wasn't a key need for us. 

Agreed. We grabbed one of the top game changers on defensive side of the ball in the league. At a position of need too. The rest of FA should be used to fill in depth on the roster. We don’t have to go out and spend every cent of cap space. That could be reserved for extensions , potential player acquisition by trade and flexibility 

[JarrodR86]

32 minutes ago, bucksavage1 said:

Agreed. We grabbed one of the top game changers on defensive side of the ball in the league. At a position of need too. The rest of FA should be used to fill in depth on the roster. We don’t have to go out and spend every cent of cap space. That could be reserved for extensions , potential player acquisition by trade and flexibility 

100%… it was nice to see us step up and spend for Wilkins who is in the prime of his career, at the biggest need on defense.. for years, a penetrating DT that could disrupt is what we’ve needed and now we got it. That will only make everyone better when now the interior and edges are causing havoc.. We still have enough cap space to sign vets at CB, OG and OT.. Get those positions filled and then we can truly go BPA in draft and add talent, or trade up for a QB knowing most of the depth chart is fairly set and go all in there.

[ronjon1990]

46 minutes ago, bucksavage1 said:

Agreed. We grabbed one of the top game changers on defensive side of the ball in the league. At a position of need too. The rest of FA should be used to fill in depth on the roster. We don’t have to go out and spend every cent of cap space. That could be reserved for extensions , potential player acquisition by trade and flexibility 

Yep. 

I don't think we're done yet. Even if we are, I don't think we're aiming for a quick turnaround. 

Better QB play and interior pash rush, we're at least as good as last year. I'm not wild about Telesco or Getsy, but hey, if a slower approach keeps us from some of the horrid contracts doled out by Grudock and McZeigler, I'm cool with it. 

Almost nobody else we could have brought in should have been expected to be a "splash", but if we doled out big bucks, they absolutely would have been. 

If I can appreciate anything from this first round of FA's, it's that our approach seems to be realistic instead of piling up contracts and hoping they make huge differences. 

We need to build the frame before we start adding the fancy trim. We can't even think about trading anyone right now because our depth is non-existent. 

I say take this as year 1, build up depth and see who we can move around for what next year. Signing backup types isn't always sexy, but it's important. 

If we can get one if the decent CBs in, we're looking pretty good for the draft. In some order, QB, DT, CB, RB were our necessary first 4 picks, and we still need WR and LB, not to mention OL. 

DT, CB, and RB2 could be off the table as far as the draft needs, meaning we go in needing QB, RG/T, WR, LB. 4 pressing needs, 3 of which are deep in day 2 prospects. We trade down at all from 13 and add a day 2 pick or 2, we can address QB, RG/T, WR, LB all before the end of round 2-mid round 3 before exploring depth types at CB, DT, RB on day 3.  That's huge, imo. We'll see, but I see no reason to be overly pessimistic right now. 

Guys are going to have to eventually bring down their asking price. Imagine netting White and Jackson at CB for 3/4 of their combined asking price as opposed to 1 of them and settling for bargain basement depth. 

I'll officially worry when the WR, CB, and LB markets dry up and we fail to address them. We're far from that right now. 

[true2form]

2 hours ago, Bitty 2.0 said:

The Raiders have been getting noticeably better at the talent standpoint for last five or six years.

It's cyclical.  It's rare that we are devoid of talent.  Right now we have the makings of a good defense.  A few years ago we had a good offense.  For 20+ years we have been missing one or the other.

We have a chance to build something, we always do.  The offseason is the season of hope.  I'm not sure I'll have much hope again until we have a QB.

[Jeremy408]

2 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

Yep. 

I don't think we're done yet. Even if we are, I don't think we're aiming for a quick turnaround. 

Better QB play and interior pash rush, we're at least as good as last year. I'm not wild about Telesco or Getsy, but hey, if a slower approach keeps us from some of the horrid contracts doled out by Grudock and McZeigler, I'm cool with it. 

Almost nobody else we could have brought in should have been expected to be a "splash", but if we doled out big bucks, they absolutely would have been. 

If I can appreciate anything from this first round of FA's, it's that our approach seems to be realistic instead of piling up contracts and hoping they make huge differences. 

We need to build the frame before we start adding the fancy trim. We can't even think about trading anyone right now because our depth is non-existent. 

I say take this as year 1, build up depth and see who we can move around for what next year. Signing backup types isn't always sexy, but it's important. 

If we can get one if the decent CBs in, we're looking pretty good for the draft. In some order, QB, DT, CB, RB were our necessary first 4 picks, and we still need WR and LB, not to mention OL. 

DT, CB, and RB2 could be off the table as far as the draft needs, meaning we go in needing QB, RG/T, WR, LB. 4 pressing needs, 3 of which are deep in day 2 prospects. We trade down at all from 13 and add a day 2 pick or 2, we can address QB, RG/T, WR, LB all before the end of round 2-mid round 3 before exploring depth types at CB, DT, RB on day 3.  That's huge, imo. We'll see, but I see no reason to be overly pessimistic right now. 

Guys are going to have to eventually bring down their asking price. Imagine netting White and Jackson at CB for 3/4 of their combined asking price as opposed to 1 of them and settling for bargain basement depth. 

I'll officially worry when the WR, CB, and LB markets dry up and we fail to address them. We're far from that right now. 

Yup, like I said the day it happened: the Christian Wilkins signing was the only move we needed to make in free agency specifically(besides the resigning of Andre James), the rest of the moves are either good but not absolutely required or something we could fulfill in the draft. I personally am cool with the way things have gone so far. 

[Humble_Beast]

I would have loved Chase Young on a 1y 15m deal. Yosh Nijman would have been nice on a 1y4m, he had ties to Getsy and plays RT/RG. Seemed like a no brainer 

[Humble_Beast]

my free agent targets remaining 3/19

RT: Mekhi Becton, Chris Hubbard, Cornelius Lucas, Andrus Peat, Andre Dillard, Matt Nelson, Josh Jones, Kendall Lamm, Chuma Edoga

RG: Greg Van Roten, Dalton Risner, Max Garcia, Cody Whitehair, Gabe Jackson, Phil Haynes, Max Scharping, Matt Feiler, Mark Glowinski

LB: Isaiah Simmons, Kwon Alexander, Zach Cunningham, Krys Barnes, Mykal Walker, Anthony Barr

CB: Adoree Jackson, Xavien Howard, Tre White, Stephen Nelson, CJ Henderson, Ahkello Witherspoon, Levi Wallace, Tre Herndon, Darnay Holmes, Kristian Fulton, Tre Flowers, Fabian Moreau, Rock Ya Sin, JC Jackson

Edited March 20 by Humble_Beast

[Geezy]

I’d take a flyer on CJ Henderson. 

[Darbsk]

On 3/19/2024 at 6:28 AM, ronjon1990 said:

I feel like FA was sort of bland anyway. 

We landed a top tier DT. Seems like DT was the deepest position in FA, so there's only so much we could do. What was the alternative, sign 8 DTs?

The CB market, as far as lock downs, was non-existent. The few with potential are still available. 

QB was garbage. 

OL was pretty bland, so I'm not going to judge until after the draft. 

RB had some heavy hitters, but they were all clearly chasing rings and weren't going to come. 

WR was nonexistent. Ditto TE. 

We don't need to spend a bunch on edge rushers as we have 2 solid ones. Depth guys can still be had. 

LB was a bit of a whiff, I have to say, but there weren't many available I feel like we totally missed out on. LB on day 2 is fine. 

We don't need any S's. 

If FA is shallow at what you're looking for, there's not much you can do. A lot of guys we anticipated maybe being available didn't actually hit the market and those who did largely traded one deep playoff run team for another. Armistead and Aaron Jones are the only 2 I can think of that went to non-playoff teams and Armstead is clearly attaching his lot to Rodgers and his Saleh connection + we already made a DL splash, while Jones simply chose someone else amd RB1 wasn't a key need for us. 

To be honest, if we only signed Wilkins and a bunch of no name guys I’d never heard of I’d still be reasonably happy. QB aside, DT was our biggest hole and it seems like it has been for eons.

I’m not so worried about LB as I feel we can fill in there, especially if we have a good DLine in Front of them to protect therm  and I’m happy with Spillane and Deablo. Masterson I’m fine with too as we generally only use two in base.

RT/RG could do with some investment but I would say it’s easier to find that in the draft than a DT. Munford I feel can be at least average and OG is the most devalued position so no worries there.

CB I probably have a slightly different view than most. I don’t think we need a ‘lockdown’ corner. We have Jack Jones and Nate Hobbs who are both decent to good, if we can add another player of that calibre (doesn’t need to be an All Pro) I’m very happy, I’d rather have 3 solid players than a Revis and 2 scrubs. That is eminently achievable plus we have Bennett in his second year who was pretty highly thought of and may improve after a rough rookie season.

No team ever fills all its holes and due to the salary cap we’ll always have some weaknesses. I think that’s a strong foundation to build off of and then we need the QB. We get one of those and everything will click into place. I’m optimistic here 😀

[Humble_Beast]

4 hours ago, Darbsk said:

To be honest, if we only signed Wilkins and a bunch of no name guys I’d never heard of I’d still be reasonably happy. QB aside, DT was our biggest hole and it seems like it has been for eons.

I’m not so worried about LB as I feel we can fill in there, especially if we have a good DLine in Front of them to protect therm  and I’m happy with Spillane and Deablo. Masterson I’m fine with too as we generally only use two in base.

RT/RG could do with some investment but I would say it’s easier to find that in the draft than a DT. Munford I feel can be at least average and OG is the most devalued position so no worries there.

CB I probably have a slightly different view than most. I don’t think we need a ‘lockdown’ corner. We have Jack Jones and Nate Hobbs who are both decent to good, if we can add another player of that calibre (doesn’t need to be an All Pro) I’m very happy, I’d rather have 3 solid players than a Revis and 2 scrubs. That is eminently achievable plus we have Bennett in his second year who was pretty highly thought of and may improve after a rough rookie season.

No team ever fills all its holes and due to the salary cap we’ll always have some weaknesses. I think that’s a strong foundation to build off of and then we need the QB. We get one of those and everything will click into place. I’m optimistic here 😀

Sucks to be sitting on 24m then. We should be down to 8-10m with room to sign our draft picks. We know we are getting another 13m on June 1 for Jimmy contract…you are forgetting Brandon Fracyson. He was signed the first day of free agency last year like Epps, Spillane. I think he can have a similar impact if healthy. He’s not an all pro corner but has been a solid starting corner who is still in his 20s. 

[Bitty 2.0]

19 hours ago, true2form said:

It's cyclical.  It's rare that we are devoid of talent.  Right now we have the makings of a good defense.  A few years ago we had a good offense.  For 20+ years we have been missing one or the other.

We have a chance to build something, we always do.  The offseason is the season of hope.  I'm not sure I'll have much hope again until we have a QB.

I don’t think Minshew is that bad, he could win 8-10 games this year.

This team has more skill on offense than any other team he ever played for and our defense is better than any other team he played for. All the Raiders need is a game manager to make the playoffs.
 

I was reading one of the weaknesses in his game is that he locks in on one WR and throws to him 10+ times a game. hey I’m OK with that if he’s throwing at Adams