2019 Oakland Raiders Discussion

http://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/ra...ion-midway-through-2018-nfl-preseason#slide-1

NBC Sports projects the Raiders' 53-man roster.
Interesting cuts:
QB: Manuel (not surprised)
RB: Washington (will be interested to see)
WR: Seth Roberts (not surprised)
OL: Giacomini, Ware, Kirkland, and Stone
DL: Hester
LB: Calhoun, Cowser
DB: McDonald, Luani, Wright, Mitchel (all these are borderline surprises to me; tough decisions at DB)

 

-I prefer Richard as Washington has been a fumbler at the most inopportune times. Love that Warren is predicted to hang on. Dude's a train on pads!

-Roberts has had the dropsies which has been his bugaboo the last few seasons. Ateman would be a viable big target much like Holmes was.

-I like Cowser even if he is called a PreSeason god by fans...much like WR Brice Butler.

-Nick Nelson is a keeper...

-Luani is a good safety but there is a logjam at the position plus Gruden is enamored with Erik Harris.

-just saw that Walford and Atkinson II...two ex-Raiders are now with the Jets. Good to see and would like for them to get a roster spot.

 

Beginning of the clip...that poor Lion safety who Warren knocked off his feet. Good highlights of collegiate him with Texas catching passes.

 

CB Rodgers-Cromartie signed... Good backup in case Conley can't physically stay on the field or play one of the safety spots.

 

Tonight's game notes:

- not sold on our backup QB's...Cook and Manuel.
- good vibes on our d-line. Hurst, Hall, Key look to be steals.
- not surprised Warren notched a TD...surprised he couldn't get us 1 yard to ice the game.
- Warren Part 2...whoever is 24 for Green Bay is probably asking for the license plate of the truck that ran over him. LOL!
- so the question is will Doug Martin as a Raider become Maurice Jones-Drew Redux as a Raider?
- where's Pineiro?
- the old adage, a player can't catch as a WR morphs into a DB.
- Feliciano as a back-up center scares me during shot-gun downs with another snap sailing over the QB's head.
- Pharaoh Brown two holding calls on outside runs...cut candidate.
- I like Penn at RT.
- Melifonwu...in-out-in.
- Cabinda and Victor are fast, instinctive linebackers that won't make the cut.

Sign Mack now!

 

First: Pineiro has a groin pull. I think he'll be available this coming week.

Watched the highlights.

QB: It's like these guys are competing to lose the job. Cook's INT was bad, but the receiver (17?) made little effort. Still, his passing numbers have been god awful the last two games. Manuel threw well enough, but he had that awful fumble. I still go with Cook - higher upside. And I hope Carr never gets hurt again.

RB: Martin walked into the endzone on his score. 3.6 yards per attempt isn't good, but he's easily our most impressive back after Lynch. Richard got going in the passing game (he's top 10 in the preseason in yards receiving per route run among RBs). Martin's 16-yard run - didn't see it. Did he look fast? Washington is the guy I'd move on from, and I like him.

OL: Penn struggled mightily at least early. I fear father time is getting him. Miller looks great in pass blocking.

WR/TE: Coop and Cook looked good. Is Switzer playing WR at all? He had two punt returns for -1 yards. Yikes.

Defense: FIVE SACKS - with everyone in on it. I think both Brown and one of Hall/Hurst were credited on PFF for "generating" two sacks each. Beautiful.

Put Mack on that field, and QBs will be s***ting themselves. Way too much power and speed on that D-Line.

 

BTW, if we're looking to free up $ to extend Mack, Penn's move freed up about $1.5m, I think. Washington could free up 700k, Martin 850k. These are small peanuts, unfortunately. Giacomini could free up more than $2.2m, and he's hot trash. I'm wondering what they need in order to be able to bring him back? 15? 17?

 

So far I've read that Mack's reps are waiting to see what Donald will get then try to eclipse it. They want more than what Von Miller is getting. $22 mil which we don't have.

Maybe we can back-load Mack's extension just like we did Carr's?

 

@trodgers

- Martin besides that 16 yard run looked ordinary with no burst and his time was with the first team o-line.
- Cook has been up and down...not a comforting thought for us. Threw behind and over...a second late here and there.
- not signing Bowman doesn't sting as much with Lee having a good pre-season plus Johnson on board.
- Rodgers-Cromartie played well...tall corner that will be very good unlike the two we had before.
- did not know Pineiro had a groin pull.
- we're either projected to be last or third in most mocks in the AFC West. I like that most pundits are sleeping on us.
- teams are now stacking the box whenever Warren is on the field but he can also catch the ball.
- Brown...Calhoun...Hester...good and serviceable players that could land elsewhere.
- D-Line Part 2...Rucker and Wright are also cut candidates and they're not terrible either.
- Switzer and Whalen seems to be neck and neck for a roster spot though the latter continues to make noise.

Sign Mack soon!

 

Thanks.

The thing I'm wondering is whether Washington goes because Richard can contribute in the return game. But if Switzer doesn't make it, that seems like a big fail for us. Even Bryant is underperforming. Sad news for our WR game.

 

- Cooper...Nelson...Bryant are locks.
- Bryant is having trouble learning the playbook.
- Ateman is reliable but is a possession receiver in every sense of the word as he can't really separate from defenders.
- I prefer Switzer to Whalen tbh...then again Roberts just might show up.
- Washington will end up somewhere but Richard is more versatile which Gruden puts a premium on.
- we might not pass as much given that Gruden wants a punishing ground game to control the pace.

 

Switzer traded for a 5th round draft choice, opens a possible roster spot for Ateman. Cool with it.

 

Ditto. Wish Switzer had showed more, but we basically end up trading Ward for a 5th. He was a horrific 2nd round pick, but he's 5th round value. A wash.

 

Agree... Switzer wanted to be a slot receiver with Dallas but I figured with Beasley entrenched he did not have a chance. Interesting it did not work out with us either. To be fair, Switzer was not able to showcase anything with the first team either. It came down to the numbers game. We have Harris to do returns and Roberts can go back to the slot if he even approaches his 2016 level of play.

Cut downs is going to be very interesting with so only many able players that we can keep. Chris Warren better be one of them and NOT on the practice squad...

 

Sounds like having the $ is not the issue for the Raiders. It's paying it.

On one hand: bummer. I love Mack.
On the other: I actually don't believe Mack is worth 22M a season. The numbers almost certainly back that.

 

From Raidersbeat.com:

The Raiders are paying Mack $13.8 million this year on his fifth-year option. The 2019 franchise tag projects to be around $17.5 million and the 2020 franchise tag projects to be around $21 million, according to former agent Joel Corry. That adds up to three years, $52.3 million – or an average of $17.4 million per year. There’s a good chance the Raiders are leaning heavily on these numbers and Mack’s camp is strictly looking at Von Miller’s outdated contract ($19M/year, $70M guaranteed) with the Broncos and demanding more.

$13.8, 17.5, and 21 = 52.3m
vs.
$19m/year, 70m guaranteed