JBB’s Oakland Raiders Mailbag: Offseason Edition #1

The first offseason edition of JBB’s Oakland Raiders mailbag, answering questions sent to our Twitter account about the NFL Draft, Free Agency and more.

The Oakland Raiders made a couples of changes to the coaching staff during the week, and with free agency and the draft on the horizon, there were plenty of questions asked for our weekly mailbag.

So let’s get started.

Note: Some of the questions were duplicates or similar to other questions that had already been asked. If you don’t see your question specifically responded to, that is likely the reason why.

The question of how much accountability falls on the shoulders of Jack Del Rio has popped up quite a bit recently following the changes to the coaching staff — or in the case of Ken Norton Jr., no change.

It’s a valid question. If the offenses regresses, then the decision to dump Bill Musgrave after a season in which the offense ranked 6th will deserve plenty of criticism. And if the defense once again falters and performs as one of the worst in the league, the decision to keep Ken Norton Jr. will also deserve plenty of criticism.

But with that being said, even if both those things happen, Del Rio won’t be on a short leash. If the Raiders keep putting together 10 or more win seasons but don’t win a playoff game in the next two or three years, then JDR’s seat will definitely be warm. At that point, it would be similar to Mark Jackson with the Golden State Warriors — culture change, postseason appearances, players coach, but not the guy to get the team over the top.

Zach Cunningham is one of my early favorite players. He’s damn good, and I think unlikely to be there at 24. Jarrad Davis would be a quality pivot option.

Rasul Douglas is exactly the type of cornerback both Reggie McKenzie and Jack Del Rio love. Big (6’2″) and athletic — he had a fantastic season at West Virginia and is definitely a name to watch out for.

To be fair to Scott, he sent a second tweet to correct Downey to Downing.

To answer the question, I imagine much of the playbook and the system will be the same. Now that Carr is on this third offensive coordinator (and his third QB coach) in four seasons, a complete overhaul of the system would do more harm than good.

Downing mostly will be asked to improve is with situational play-calling, an area where Bill Musgrave struggled. He’ll be asked to spread the field more, allow Derek to let loose a bit more, and in general just open up the offense. But he won’t be asked to reinvent the wheel.

Where it gets tricky is that Downing has to make enough changes to where Musgrave can’t give the Broncos the full scoop on Oakland’s offense, but not make so many changes to where everyone feels like they are starting from scratch.

Carr is going to sign a blank check, essentially. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s record-setting money. Which, like with any other team who has been in a similar situation, ties up quite a bit of the salary cap, making it difficult to add free agents.

Per Over The Cap, the Raiders have about $51.5 million in cap space this offseason. With some cuts, they can probably add about $10 million to that. Let’s say Carr eats up $23 million out of that $61.5 million — we’re already down to $38.5 million. The Raiders then have to address their 18 free agents, and will probably re-sign around 10 of them. Most of them will be cheaper contracts, so let’s just say these cost $20 million in total.

That gives the Raiders about $18.5M, and most of the roster would be filled out. The draft picks will cost roughly another $5.5M. So we’re down to $12M. So yeah, there would be some room for a either one high-end player, two quality players or three or four role/depth players.

Seeing as Oakland has needs at multiple spots, I would prefer one of the last two options. Some combination of ILB Zach Brown, CB Dre Kirkpatrick, DT Chris Baker or S Jahleel Addae. Players along those lines.

This will probably change several times between now and draft day, but my early draft crush is CB Teez Tabor, from Florida. It’s a deep draft, though — there are several DTs, LBs and CBs who could be available at 24.

The leash on Ken Norton Jr. has to be until the bye week, whenever that falls. If the defense is still a bottom five or so group when Week 7, Week 8 or whenever the bye is, then he’s gotta go.

Give the interim DC (or Jack, if he takes over) time to prepare and transition during the bye week.

The biggest need, in my opinion, is fixing the pass rush. The Raiders had 25 sacks in 2016, which was dead last in the NFL. And Khalil Mack accounted for 44 percent of those — which is both impressive in regard to Khalil’s performance, and sad in regard to the performance of his peers.

Most will point to the secondary — particularly CB — as the biggest need. But it’s very simple…an elite pass rush fixes a bad secondary if the quarterback doesn’t have time to throw.

Load up on the front seven, put the CBs in press-man coverage like they should be, replace Reggie Nelson and the defense should make noticeable strides.

To grade the 2016 draft, I’d say a ‘B’ is the most optimistic I can be. Karl Joseph looks like he’ll be a player for years to come, while Jihad Ward was awful and Shilique Calhoun made very little impact. It’s hard to judge Connor Cook considering the circumstances he had to play under, but he didn’t do a whole lot to inspire confidence. DeAndre Washington, Cory James and Vadal Alexander were all quality picks though.

DT and DB via the draft, right tackle in free agency.

My thinking is that the Raiders are in need of viable long-term solutions at both DT and DB, hence focusing on that draft at those spots.

While at right tackle, both Vadal Alexander and Denver Kirkland looked pretty good at times filling in at right tackle. So plug in a veteran there for now, while continuing to groom Alexander and Kirkland for that spot in the future — whoever wins the job.

The defensive coordinator that’s currently at the helm can barely make a halftime adjustment, yet alone focus on using more 3-4 looks. As it stands, I wouldn’t expect much changes to the scheme.

As Bruce Irvin said in a tweet — assuming he was speaking on behalf of the players — the scheme works. Again, that’s according to Irvin and is not an opinion I share. I’m fully expecting more of the same results in 2017.

If someone like Reuben Foster or Malik Hooker fall out of the top ten, it’d be hard to be mad at Reggie McKenzie for trading up to get one of those players. But of course, it depends on the cost.

With that being said, I wouldn’t hold your breath. It’s a deep draft class and I’m sure McKenzie is confident a stud will fall in Oakland’s lap at 24.

Aldon better be back by then. But we all saw how Roger Goodell played out that situation this season, and he could easily do that again if he wanted to.

Reports said that Aldon’s case will be revisited in March, so we’ll just have to wait and see. My guess is yes, he’ll be back for camp.

Next: JBB Staff Roundtable: 2016 Raiders Recap

That’ll do it for the first offseason edition of JBB’s Mailbag. Thanks to all for the questions.