While most of the media world is down on the 2018 Oakland Raiders, we have five realistic expectations for the team this season.
If you take a look around the internet, you will see that there are really no experts out there who expect the Oakland Raiders to be any good this season. In fact, the consensus around America is that the Silver and Black will finish between 6 or 7 wins in 2018, and likely be in the cellar of the AFC West.
Well, those kind of expectations should fall on deaf ears, as the media expected them to be a Super Bowl contender last season, and that certainly did not happen. The fact is, this team is going to look nothing like the one that won only six games last season, and with Jon Gruden returning to the sidelines, it is anybody’s guess as to how good they can be.
There are some factors that show that the Raiders will be much better than they were a year ago, but the games are played on the field, and not on paper. They still have an elite quarterback in Derek Carr, and if Khalil Mack would hurry up and get to camp already, they will have one of the two best defensive players in all of football.
The Raiders open up against the Los Angeles Rams at home in Week 1 on Monday Night Football, so that will be as good an opening test as they can get. The Rams bolstered their roster big time this offseason, and a win against them would likely change the way the media sees this team moving forward.
With that said, here are five realistic expectations for the 2018 season.