Oakland Raiders offseason turned heads for the positive in 2019

The Oakland Raiders completely revamped their roster this offseason, and media outlets are starting to take notice of how good of a job they actually did.

The Oakland Raiders hired Mike Mayock to be their new general manager early in the offseason, and since then, he has been pulling all the right strings. Starting out by scouting at the CFP National Championship Game, Mayock has been all over the map, and has brought the Raiders some incredibly talented players this offseason.

Mayock’s biggest move came early, as he traded a third and fifth round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver Antonio Brown. With that move, not only are the Raiders getting arguably the best wideout in the NFL, but also giving star quarterback Derek Carr the best weapon he has ever had in his six seasons as a starter.

A lot of the conversation this offseason has circled around Carr, who many expected to be dealt, and the Raiders use one of their three first round picks on his successor. Well, not only did the Raiders not draft a quarterback in the first round, but they did not draft one at all, clearing the way for Carr to be the unquestioned leader in 2019.

That was a brilliant move by Mayock and head coach Jon  Gruden, who got to see how tough Carr was last season. Playing under duress for much of the year, Carr still threw for 4,000 yards while completing over 70 percent of his passes.

In addition to Antonio Brown, the Raiders also beefed up their offensive line by signing Trent Brown, who is fresh off a Super Bowl title with the New England Patriots. After Brown, the  team went out and added two wideouts in Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson, while bolstering their secondary with Lamarcus Joyner.

For Raiders fans, this could not have been a better offseason, as they had to suffer through a terrible 4-12 season in Gruden’s return to the sidelines. When ranking the teams who had the best offseason, NFL.com’s Gil Brandt rated the Raiders as No. 2 overall in the NFL, only behind the Cleveland Browns.

Brandt spoke of how the Raiders extremely improved their roster, not only bringing in solid veterans, but also hitting a home run with their three first round picks. Clelin Ferrell (4), Josh Jacobs (24), and Johnathan Abram (27), all have the ability to be starters right out of the gate in 2019.

Now, no teams win anything on paper, so it will be up to this coaching staff to get all these pieces moving in the right direction. Of course, as a Raiders fan, you have to be nervous about the offensive line, as Tom Cable has not shown he can be an effective coach, but if Carr is given the protection he needs in 2019, look out AFC.