The Las Vegas Raiders have made more changes this offseason than nearly any other team in the National Football League. Las Vegas has quickly improved from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best, thanks to a productive offseason across several fronts.
Still, even the Raiders’ front office would admit there is plenty of work to be done, especially on its roster. The Raiders have undoubtedly taken a step forward this offseason, but they still have a long way to go. Below are some areas where Las Vegas still needs to work.
Cohesion Along the Offensive Line
The Raiders know all too well that games are won and lost along the line of scrimmage. Las Vegas has lost that battle more than it has won, leading to 27 losses in the past two seasons combined. Las Vegas’ front office entered the offseason determined to fix the problem.
The Raiders hired Rick Dennison as their offensive line coach and signed free agent offensive linemen Tyler Linderbaum and Spencer Burford in free agency. They then drafted Trey Zuhn in the middle of the NFL Draft. Las Vegas has made several moves this offseason to improve the unit.
However, until they prove it on the field during the regular season, the Raiders’ offensive line remains the team’s most significant weakness.
Development of the Defensive Backfield
The only position group that entered the offseason with as many questions as the Raiders’ offensive line was its group of cornerbacks. Las Vegas wisely retained Eric Stokes, pairing him with Darien Porter, whom they drafted last offseason. The Raiders also traded for Taron Johnson.
Las Vegas then drafted two additional cornerbacks, adding much-needed talent. Still, the Raiders appear to have a bottom-tier group of cornerbacks collectively, compared to the rest of the league.
Lack of a True Identity
This one can be fixed in time, and is one of the many goals Kubiak has as the Raiders’ new head coach. Every team aims to establish its identity, which can vary from season to season. However, the Raiders have lacked a true identity for several seasons prior to Kubiak’s arrival.
Figuring out who they are as a team, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, and maximizing the talent on their roster will be critical to Kubiak’s early tenure in Las Vegas. Kubiak surely knows how important it will be for him and his coaching staff to establish a new identity.
Kubiak may be a first-time head coach, but the Raiders’ front office has given him a better roster than many of his predecessors. It is fair to expect improvement across the board. That improvement should lead to a more competitive Raiders team come Week 1 of the regular season.
It will be up to Kubiak’s coaching staff to establish things as quickly as possible. He is confident in the coaching staff he assembled.
“It’s been fun. It’s been a lot of hard work, but John [Spytek] allowed us to hire a lot of really high-quality coaches to spread the work around, because you can’t do it all yourself. I’m trying to work on being a better delegator and trusting guys to go do their jobs and hire some really talented coordinators and assistants, and now we get to go see how prepared we are when we go get in front of these players,” Kubiak said.
“I just learned that I’ve met a lot of great football coaches that wanted to come to work and be Raiders, that are going to help us be better. Having those relationships with those coaches, that’s what’s going to help us get going. It’s got nothing to do with me, it’s about us working together as a staff. So, having those relationships has been really important, getting quality coaches here on our staff.”
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