Offense 

This offense is SO far and away better than last year, it can’t be understated the improvements they’ve made in just one offseason. The transformation is apparent in quite literally every room on this team aside from TE which you could argue they had one of the three, if not the best, rooms in the league last year.

• Along the OL you add Alex Cappa in FA, a very capable starting G in the league although he had a pretty rough season last year, along with Charles Grant (T) and Caleb Rogers (G) in the draft who I think both will be competing for starting positions at their respective positions this offseason. Along with these additions you have in my opinion an addition by subtraction with letting Andre James go and moving Jackson Powers-Johnson back to his position coming out of college, C. While James had some solid years for the Raiders in the past.. he really struggled in the run game last year consistently letting IDLs fly into the backfield and being, in my opinion, the leading reason they were dead last in YPC last year at just 3.6. Now to be fair he wasn’t the only reason they were dead last but on tape he stuck out like a sour thumb, especially when in came to reach blocking.
• The WR room while not my favorite certainty got better (dependent on if you count Adams last year.. I don’t) with the additions of Bech, Mellot, and Thornton Jr. Obviously you’d like an additional that is a little more projectable going into next year but with how Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly want to play, paired with Bowers and Mayer you have a room of guys that will at least be competent for Geno next season.
• Then you look at the biggest 2 additions and improvements for this team, not only offensively but I think as a whole as well. Geno Smith and Ashton Jeanty are so far and away better at their respective positions compared to what they had last year (Aidan O’Connell/Gardner Minshew at QB and Zamir White, Alexander Mattison, and Ameer Abdulllah at RB) that I’m not sure there’s any another team that improved that much at two positions this past offseason, at least off the top of my head. Geno may not be a top 5-10 guy but he’s certainly not far off that 10 spot, especially considering how he played last year. He routinely made that Seahawks offense look not just capable but good to great even though they had one of the worst OL situations, especially IOL, in the league. Consistently making throws with guys in his face before the play even began.. that offense flat out doesn’t function with many other QBs not named Geno Smith last year. Then we get to Ashton Jeanty. Truly an elite level prospect coming out of Boise State Jeanty is not only going to have an impact on this offense he’s going to be the main reason this offense works. Outside of some lackluster pass protection at times Jeanty doesn’t have a flaw in his game and you pair that with Brock Bowers and Geno Smith all the sudden you have a real offense that is capable of making explosive plays at a moments notice. I can’t speak highly enough of Jeanty and the best part is he’s a phenomenal guy in the locker room and off the field by all accounts so you not only get a generational talent at RB you get a leader and phenomenal teammate that will help set a culture that the Raiders have been lacking for years now.

Defense 

It’ll be interesting to see how this defense comes together underneath Pete Carroll and Patrick Graham. There’s a lot of moving parts across the defensive roster with guys like Eric Stokes, Devin White, Jeremy Chinn, Lonnie Johnson Jr, and even players that have been on this team like Tyree Wilson.. these are all guys that have had success at one point throughout they’re career and/or were highly thought of coming out of the draft but due to injuries or whatever it may be circumstantially.. have sort of fallen from grace in the league so it will be interesting to see what they can get out of guys like that.

This front seven is very talented. Anytime you have a player like Maxx Crosby on your team you’re going to have some semblance of a pass rush but you pair him with Christian Wilkins, hopefully a healthy Malcolm Koonce, a talented but so far underwhelming player in Tyree Wilson, and some draft picks like Tonka Hemingway and J.J. Pegues you can start to see a vision where this line becomes a top end unit in the league. Now there’s certainly some projection and hope involved in that but it’s not outlandish either. They also have some great coaching there in Pete Carroll (HC), Patrick Graham (DC), and Rob Leonard (DL Coach) that I believe in to get these guys on track and playing at the very least a top half of league unit.

For me there’s still a pretty serious concern at CB and honestly.. overall the secondary for me. Eric Stokes when he’s right is absolutely a starting outside CB for you, the problem is due to injuries he just hasn’t been the same player the last 2 years he was earlier for the Packers. You pair Stokes with Jakorian Bennett opposite of him and Darnay Holmes in the slot I just don’t love the floor of that room. Now there’s certainly is a world where those guys play at least competently and I wouldn’t necessarily bet against it, once again mostly because of coaching staff, but there’s also a guy they picked in the 3rd round of this years draft that I absolutely LOVE. That guy being Darien Porter out of Iowa State. Porter is an absolute freak athletically (6’3, 195lbs, 33 1/8 arms, ran a 4.3 40yd, 1.49 10yd, 36.5” vert, 10’11” broad, and a 4.04 20yd shuttle) an because of the coaching staff and the history Pete Carroll himself has as a coach of developing this type of player I can help but believe in him. He’s new to the position being a former WR but that doesn’t necessarily show on tape. He has impressive instincts in coverage and his willingness to be tackler and overall be physical (even though it isn’t the prettiest all of the time) pops on tape. He even played gunner on ST for Iowa State which to me just shows how hard of a worker he is and his willingness to do anything to get on the field. He absolutely needs to clean up some issues technique wise, especially in man coverage but with that athleticism, his willingness to play anywhere, and the instincts he shows I think he’ll be a starter before we know it.. especially with Carroll as his HC.

• Overall I don’t know that this Raiders team will make the playoffs next year and I’d be pretty stunned if they were fighting for this division but the Raiders finally feel like they’re on track to something special here, which after the Gruden thing fell apart hasn’t been the case. It may not be perfect this upcoming season but this team is not going to be an easy out anymore. You will certainly have to bring your best because this defense is going to be chippy with some real high end talent sprinkled in that will flip some drives and even games for them and I think the offense is going to legitimately good next year. So while they may need another offseason to truly get this roster where it needs to be so they can be competitive in this division they’re not a team I want to run into if I’m looking to get back on track or keep my winning streak alive. The Raiders finally are building something that not only feels real but feels sustainable and I’d be very happy if I was a Raiders fan moving forward.