2021 offseason has been a wild one already
That leads us to this offseason, where the Raiders once again have issues on both sides of the ball and seem to be creating even more over the last few weeks. Once considered a strength of the team, the offensive line has been stripped down, as Richie Incognito and Gabe Jackson were released, and Trent Brown was traded away.
These moves created some much-needed cap space, as did the release of both Williams and Joyner, two cornerstone free agents from 2019. Sure, Mayock and Gruden have relieved the Raiders from cap hell, but they now have even more issues, and without significant draft capital, how do they fill all these holes.
While I do not want to say it, this has all the feelings of another breakdown of the roster, and with seven more years left on his deal, what kind of rush is Gruden really in. Sure, Mayock will likely be the fall guy if the Raiders do not turn things around quickly, but based on the track record of these two, can we really trust them to push all the right buttons in free agency and the draft this offseason.
I hope I am wrong, but I am skeptical.
After all of the draft picks, and all of the free agents brought in since Mayock arrived, shouldn’t this team be reloading this offseason? To me, this certainly seems like the beginning of a rebuild, and if that is what this is, the franchise wasted a ton of assets to get very little in return.