Despite the addition of Davante Adams, the Raiders want to be a balanced offense. Yes, they have three Pro Bowlers at wide receiver and tight end, but Josh McDaniels has always wanted to keep defenses honest with the run game.
Last year, the Raiders were phenomenal when it was in their best interest to run the ball with light boxes. But when teams knew they were going to pound the rock, they really struggled.
In a recent article by Aaron Schatz of ESPN and Football Outsiders, he wrote about how much the Raiders struggled when teams loaded the box last season. Here is a snippet of what he had to say about the run game last year:
