Oakland Raiders: 2014 Positional Grades, Jack Del Rio Thoughts

Dec 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders free safety Charles Woodson (24) regains his footing after intercepting a pass against the Buffalo Bills in the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Safeties: C

Look, I am about to say something that some will find blasphemous, but Woodson is a much of a liability for this defense as he is a bonus. Yes he forced a couple fumbles and he also picked a couple balls off, but both of those were closer to the line of scrimmage. He is not a deep defender, but he is also undersized to be a strong safety. Woodson also has a tendency to bite on under coverages and he did it twice this season hanging Hayden out to dry and giving up big touchdowns including the post route to Sammy Watkins. I want to see Woodson return but his role needs to be minimized. Ross showed some flashes as a deep defender and I want to see him return in that role. The wildcards are Branch and Dowling. I am not against Branch being cut and Dowling will in the long term be a solution to one of the safety positions.

Special Teams: C-

Seabass was fine, King was oddly erratic at the end of the season, the return game was poor most of the time while racking up a bunch of penalties, and the coverage teams were also inconsistent without the All-Pro gunner Taiwan Jones.

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