4. The Raiders do not re-sign S Karl Joseph
Karl Joseph has had quite the up-and-down experience as an Oakland/Las Vegas Raider. The hard-hitting safety has missed at least four games in three of his four seasons with the Raiders, up to this point. Joseph has not been able to stay healthy, including suffering a broken foot that required surgery while playing the best football of his career this past season.
When healthy, Joseph has not exactly been, well, consistent, either. Joseph has, often, struggled when lined up one-on-one in pass coverage. Simply put, at 5’10, Joseph is not able to size up with tight ends and lengthy, tall receivers. In fact, Joseph has only recorded 15 passes defended in his entire career.
An area that Karl Joseph has shined, though, is against the run. Joseph has recorded over 230 tackles in his short, choppy career and has been one of the most reliable run defenders on the entire Raiders’ defense. How much of that is related to the Raiders allowing runners to get into the secondary remains to be seen, but I digress.
The Raiders have been much too vulnerable against the pass for far too long. Unfortunately, re-signing Joseph does not address that need. The Raiders need to add defenders to their secondary that they can count on to match up with the likes of Travis Kelce, Hunter Henry and Noah Fant.
Joseph not being drafted by the current Gruden/Mayock regime certainly does not help his case, either. Unless his strong play in the second half of last season, when he was healthy, was enough to convince the Raiders’ front office otherwise, it is not likely that Karl Joseph will be the first Raider first-round pick since McFadden to get another contract with the club.