Oakland Raiders dominating the 2019 NFL offseason

The Oakland Raiders stumbled through a 4-12 season in 2018, and they are doing everything they can to make sure that does not happen again.

The Oakland Raiders biggest offseason acquisition may have come early on, as they signed former NFL Network Draft Analyst Mike Mayock to be their new general manager. With zero experience at the position, Mayock’s hire drew some ire from the experts in the media, but he has quieted them in a big way once the new league year started.

First, Mayock robbed the Pittsburgh Steelers for the services of elite wide receiver Antonio Brown, sending a third and fifth round pick for the Pro Bowler. Earlier, the Steelers were talking about getting two first round picks for Brown, so the fact Mayock was able to keep all of his elite draft capital, and still get a player of his caliber was a stroke of genius.

Last season, Oakland ended the year with Jordy Nelson atop their depth chart at wide receiver, and very little behind him. Heading into 2019, Derek Carr has arguably the best group of weapon at the position, as Mayock added Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson to the position group after trading for Brown.

Mayock has not stopped at just bringing in new faces, as he made sure to bring back guys who donned the Silver and Black last season as well. Erik Harris, Dwayne Harris, Denzelle Good, and Johnathan Hankins will all play big roles for the team in 2019, and Mayock got them back on the cheap.

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Up front, the Raiders needed help at offensive tackle, after rolling with two rookies during the 2018 NFL season. While Kolton Miller will remain as one of the team’s starters at tackle, Oakland went out and signed New England Patriots left tackle Trent Brown, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in football.

Over the past few days, he has added even more talent to the offense, bringing in running back Isaiah Crowell, and signing two guys to battle it out for the backup quarterback job behind Carr in Mike Glennon and Landry Jones. Overall, this offense is immensely better than it was a year ago.

On the defensive side of the ball, Oakland had a ton of holes entering the offseason at all three levels of the defense. While Mayock has yet to address their biggest hole, the edge spot, he has done a nice job filling in the rest of them, adding talent to the linebacker group, as well as in the secondary.

Bringing back Harris was a solid a move, as he was a very productive player for the Raiders last season. Mayock also tendered Daryl Worley, and signed former Los Angeles Rams safety Lamarcus Joyner to be the nickel corner in Paul Guenther’s defense in 2019.

At linebacker, the new general manager added two guys who improve the talent of the group in a big way, adding Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall. Oakland will go into 2019 with a much-improved unit at the linebacker position, and that enables a guy like Jason Cabinda to learn from some solid veterans early in his career.

Throughout all of this, Mayock has continued to turn heads, and is a perfect compliment to head coach Jon Gruden, who can be a bit of a loose cannon at times. Remember, Oakland still holds four of the first 35 picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, so while the team is incredibly improved right now, there is still more big players to be added this April.

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The NFL Draft is less than a month away, and with all the moves this team has made in recent weeks, the Raiders will be able to go into the event with a concrete plan of what they want to do. Mayock has proven to be an absolutely incredible hire during the offseason so far, but he is a former draft analyst, so the best may be ahead of him.

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