Are the Oakland Raiders actually taking it back to 1998?

When Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden mentioned taking the franchise back in time, maybe he wasn’t actually joking.

Last year Jon Gruden said he “wanted to take the game back to 1998” and frankly, it is starting to look like he wasn’t being facetious. A day after the Raiders sent a third and a fifth round draft pick to Pittsburgh and made Antonio Brown the highest paid receiver in the league, it is hard to not see the parallels to Gruden’s first stint in Oakland.

During Gruden’s first two seasons at the helm in Oakland back in the day, the Raiders accumulated a measly 16-16 record. However the Raiders were building up, putting pieces in place to propel them to success when they finally got all the right pieces in place.

Rich Gannon was signed as a free agent in 1999 and led the Raiders to their second consecutive 8-8 season. However, in his second season in 2000, the Raiders exploded to a 12-4 record and a division title. Two seasons after that, Gannon was the MVP of the league and took Oakland to the Super Bowl. Derek Carr is entering his second year under Gruden, could he be in store for a huge year? Sure seems a little more likely now that he is throwing to a perennial All-Pro and future Hall of Famer.

The Raiders needed one more piece, one more little nudge to get them over the top. Enter a veteran wide receiver that enjoyed a bit of a renaissance moving to a new team and working with a new group of players and coaches. In the offseason before the 2001 season the Raiders signed Jerry Rice in free agency, who went on to help them win a second consecutive division title with a 10-6 record. During his stint with the Raiders, Rice accumulated 3,286 yards and 18 touchdowns from the age of 39 to 41. That is mightily impressive feat.

Obviously that season ended with the Tuck Rule game, but the Raiders returned to the playoffs again in 2002 with an 11-5 season which culminated in a Super Bowl defeat. However, the point here is that the Raiders added a weapon in free agency that helped them bridge the gap from mediocrity to playoff success.

It is not fair to simply say that trading for Antonio Brown is the equivalent of signing Rice back in 2001. Nor would it be fair to compare the two players as they hail from different eras. It would also be blasphemous to say that this current Raiders squad could be considered a contender. But, it makes an awful lot of sense to look at the parallels between the Gruden stints.

Coming off of a 4-12 season, one thing is for certain. The Raiders are not interested in a long-term rebuild. Losing is not on the agenda at all. They are already being aggressive in the trade market and free agency has yet to even begin. If the Raiders stick with this plan of ‘buying’ an offense and drafting defense, they could be a completely different team next season.

To get Brown while keeping the first four picks in the top 35 seems like highway robbery, however the Raiders are paying top dollar for a player who is soon to be 31-years-old. Over the last six seasons Brown has averaged 1,524 yards and 11 touchdowns, but it remains to be seen how well Brown plays in a new system with a different quarterback. Not that I do not think he will excel for several seasons in Oakland/Las Vegas, I simply think it would be foolish of the Raiders to not take full advantage of having a wide out like Brown on the roster.

Fix the holes on the offensive line via free agency, add another young wide receiver in the draft, and most of all draft defensive players to plug the gaping holes on that side of the ball. This move should inspire confidence and restore some hope for the franchise and it’s fans. Derek Carr and Antonio Brown already seem to have some chemistry and it is lighting Raiders Twitter on fire.

Who knows how the next couple months round out. Maybe Gruden goes and gets his Charlie Garner by signing Le’Veon Bell. Maybe he finds his Greg Biekert in the draft with Devin White or Devin Bush.

Maybe he actually is just trying to take the game back to the ‘good old days’. Whatever happens from here on out should be focused on bringing the Raiders back to relevancy as soon as possible. Brown opens up a ‘win now’ window that Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock need to take full advantage of, hopefully they are able to do so.