The Raiders had one of the busiest offseasons of the year, moving on from their franchise quarterback and trading away a Pro Bowl tight end. They also added the top free-agent receiver on the market and signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a three-year deal.
But did the Raiders have a successful offseason? According to one national expert, it was actually one of the worst in the entire league.
In a recent article by Bill Barnwell of ESPN, he ranked all 32 teams by their offseason moves and draft picks. The Raiders did not grade out well, coming in at No. 30, third-worst in the NFL. Here is just a snippet of why Barnwell wasn’t a fan of their offseason:
This team moved up in the second round (for Michael Mayer) and fourth round (twice, for Jakorian Bennett and for Aidan O’Connell). These weren’t dramatic moves from the coach who once moved up for Alphonso Smith and traded away the pick the Seahawks would use on Earl Thomas, but it’s the attitude toward picks that feels so off-putting.
The Raiders aren’t a player away. They need cheap, homegrown talent more than any other team. If anything, they should have been trying to move down.
Trading up in the draft usually isn’t a smart idea, but these were small trade-ups for the Raiders as they almost had too many picks and not enough roster spots. However, it’s usually not a great strategy to trade up multiple times in the same draft unless it’s for a franchise quarterback.
Barnwell also didn’t like the idea of moving on from Derek Carr in favor of Jimmy Garoppolo, but that move has been discussed ad nauseam over the last two months. At this point, we just have to wait and see how the moves end up playing out for the Raiders as it was certainly an eventful offseason for Las Vegas.
