While the Raiders did not make the playoffs in 2019, several key players took a positive step forward. Players such as Darren Waller, Kolton Miller and Maxx Crosby all had breakout seasons with the Raiders this year.

However, there are a handful of players on the roster that need to step up next season if the team wants to take the next step. Here are three names who must step up in the 2020 season:

1. DB Lamarcus Joyner

The Raiders made some big splashes in free agency last offseason, signing veterans Trent Brown and Tyrell Williams. Their biggest signing on defense was bringing in versatile defensive back Lamarcus Joyner, who played at a near Pro Bowl level when he was with the Rams.

The Raiders brought in Joyner with the intent to play him as a free safety on early downs and then sliding him into the slot on passing down. However, Joyner was arguably the team’s worst defensive back last season, struggling mightily in coverage.

While it’s true Joyner dealt with a few lower-body injuries, his play simply wasn’t good enough. Joyner will need to be significantly better next season in order to avoid being a cap casualty next offseason.

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We’re over a week since the Raiders season ended with a loss in Denver, but a few of their players are still seeing the after-effects of it. The largest punishment came down on Nevin Lawson who was suspended for one game for using his helmet as a weapon. He will serve that during the first game of next season.

Lawson wasn’t the only Raiders defender to be punished though. A couple other Raiders will be a little lighter in the wallet; both for unnecessary roughness penalties. Safety Erik Harris was fined $28,075 and defensive end Josh Mauro was fined $10,527.

Jon Gruden took issue with Erik Harris’s penalty in particular. He gave the officials an earful on the sideline.

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“I thought it was a heck of a play,” Gruden said of Harris’s hit on Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton. “I think some of these bang-bang collisions, the quarterback should be penalized for throwing the ball in there. I mean, I thought Harris went in there with his shoulder, no head at all, but I think his target needs to be better. That’s the reaction I got to learn from and take from that. That was a big play of the game, sure.”

The Broncos were up 10-3 in the third quarter and the roughing penalty helped move them into field goal range to allow them to take a 13-3 lead.

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One of the most surprising moves the Raiders made this season was trading away cornerback Gareon Conley, who was great for the team in the previous season. That move netted the Raiders a third-round pick in this upcoming draft, but that allowed the team to give more snaps to 2019 second-round pick Trayvon Mullen.

Mullen’s snap count jumped dramatically in Week 7 as he played at least 80 percent of the team’s defensive snaps over the next 10 weeks. Mullen finished the season with 10 pass deflections and one key interception that helped seal the win against the Bengals in Week 11.

As you would expect, Mullen had his ups and downs as a starter, but the fact that he had a few outstanding games has to be encouraging for the Raiders going forward. In a recent piece by Pro Football Focus, Mullen was graded as the seventh-best rookie cornerback in 2019, as he was named the 50th-best rookie in the class.

Once Oakland traded cornerback Gareon Conley to Houston, Trayvon Mullen was thrown in as starter where he had mixed results. Since Week 8, Mullen had two games that earned a PFF grade above 80.0, but he also three game grades below 50.0.

It’s pretty clear the Raiders are going to continue to add to the cornerback position this offseason, but at least they have a good feeling about Mullen heading into the 2020 season. With some experience in his back pocket, look for the former Clemson cornerback to be even better next season for the Raiders.

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If you were to just look at the raw stats, it would appear the defensive tackle Maurice Hurst took a step backward in his second season. After recording four sacks as a rookie, Hurst notched only 3.5 sacks in 16 games this season. However, raw stats can lie as they don’t tell the whole story about a player’s value.

According to Pro Football Focus, Hurst was the team’s highest-graded defender for the second-straight season. Take a look at what the site said about the former Michigan defensive tackle in 2019:

Hurst came out of college with first-round credentials and while he hasn’t exactly dominated, he finishes the 2019 season as the highest-graded Raiders defensive player at 72.2 overall. Don’t be fooled by sack totals, Hurst was the team’s most efficient pass-rusher, grading at 76.5 and pressuring the quarterback 38 times on only 355 rushes.

Hurst still needs to improve as a run defender, but it’s clear that he is a talented pass rusher. Hopefully, he can continue to develop as the team looks for ways to improve their defense. But the Raiders should rest easy knowing they have a potential stud in the middle of their defense.

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The Raiders offense has been the talk of Raider nation after plummeting at the end of the 2019 season. An attack that went seven straight weeks with 24 points or more for the first time since 2002 finished with 12.5 points per game mark in the last six games. The awful play cost them a chance at the playoffs losing games to Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos.

The crazy part about the finish was how efficient the offense was all season. The Offense was sixth in yards per drive according to Pro Football Reference and was tenth in offensive EPA, according to Ben Baldwin of the Athletic Seattle.

The Raiders were seventh in third-down conversion rate, which is the highest mark since Derek Carr became the starting quarterback in 2014. With all those numbers, the Raiders finished 24^th overall in scoring offense and 20^th in points per drive according to pro football reference.

What could cause such a discrepancy with an offense that is one of the most efficient in the league? The team, not putting points up in the red zone.

The Raiders finished with a red zone touchdown percentage of 52.8, which was 21^st in the league. The 2019 offense was 14^th in red zone opportunities improving from 27^th in 2018 but still finished right around the same percentage, which was 22^nd the previous season. For perspective, the four years before he came back from the booth, the Raiders average red zone touchdown percentage was 62.32, with an average ranking of 7.75.

Gruden performed in the red zone in his previous stint with the Raiders finishing in the top ten from 1999-2001. However, his best-ranked offense, which finished fifth in 2001, would have ranked 13^th in 2019, where the importance of scoring touchdowns has grown with the rise of analytics. When taking a look at Gruden’s red zone history in Tampa Bay, it went downhill during his run with a new team.

During his seven-year stint with the Buccaneers Gruden led offensive units finished with a red zone percentage of 47.1 and an average ranking of 21.2. His last two seasons were his worst finishing 29^th in 2007 and then 30^th in 2008, which ultimately led to his firing and becoming the commentator for Monday Night Football. This led to Gruden never having an offense score more than 22 points per game.

Gruden’s conservative nature hurts him at times in the red zone with the old school mentality of taking three points instead of being aggressive. Having a quarterback who throws it away on fourth down doesn’t help either. But his playing calling in the red area can be repetitive as well with him depending on a particular set of passes and run plays.

For example, one of Gruden’s favorite play calls is a 2×2 set double jerk route out of the shotgun. After two years of running this play, teams can recognize it, and they become predictable. While it did lead to a game-winning touchdown against the Steelers in 2018, it led to a throwaway and a batted pass against the Broncos Week 17.

Gruden loves this 2×2 double jerk route in the red zone.

Initial read was rarely there, forcing Carr to make a play on the fly. When it was, Shelby Harris batted the pass. pic.twitter.com/4EYo5EkQUu

— Marc John (@TheMarcJohnNFL) January 4, 2020

Even run designs become predictable in the red zone. The game-winning touchdown against the Chicago Bears was used again against the Green Bay Packers leading to a turnover on downs because the Packers recognized the play on tape.

One of the biggest gaffs was the lack of targets for Darren Waller in the red zone. While he led the team with 11, compared to his peers like Travis Kelce and George kittle, he was way behind the eightball when it comes to red-zone targets.

Tight end red zone targets

Kelce-19
Higbee-19
Hooper-18
Kittle-16
Andrews-14
Doyle-13
Fells-12
Waller-11#Raiders

— Marc John (@TheMarcJohnNFL) January 4, 2020

Inside the ten is worse where Waller was only targeted four times compared to Kelce’s 12. He scored two touchdowns out of those four targets, which makes it even more inexcusable.

Gruden is considered a grinder and a meticulous film junkie, but the red zone issue is a severe cause of concern. He has to make adjustments this offseason to his approach for the Raiders to score points and compete for a playoff spot. If this doesn’t change, it’s going to be a long 8 years.

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