The Las Vegas Raiders finished the 2020 NFL season outside of the playoffs once again, and have made it back to the postseason only once since the 2002 NFL season. There has been a lot of bad between then and now, but after improving in the win column in each of the last three seasons, there is reason to believe that a yearly miss of the playoffs could be ending.
Sure, the last two teams should have made it to the playoffs, especially after getting out to such good starts, but the fact is, they faltered down the stretch. Bad playcalling, injuries, and inconsistent play has plagued this team in the later months of the season, and they will now turn their attention to the offseason in preparation for 2021.
The Raiders added a quality defensive coordinator in Gus Bradley already this offseason, and with their first-round pick in 2021, they have to bring in some more talent on that side of the ball.
Raiders need to add a quality linebacker in Round 1
The Raiders have had issues at the linebacker position for some time now, and even with free-agent reinforcements like Nick Kwiatkoski and Cory Littleton this past year, they still struggled mightily. Nicholas Morrow had a solid 2020 campaign and should be brought back in 2021, but it will be up to Bradley to finally get some strong play out of this position group.
Looking at the 2021 NFL Draft class, there are a few stellar linebackers that could be there at No. 17 in the first round, including Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Zaven Collins, Nick Bolton, and Dylan Moses. Any one of these guys would be a solid upgrade at the position group, and should all be targets for the Silver and Black in their draft prep.