Fans have their delusions about their teams. All fans, all teams. Sometimes it’s best to just let them have those delusions. After all, what is the point of being a fan without them?
Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders doesn’t care about that, apparently. He has set out to tear apart your delusions. He did one for fans of every team in the NFL. Here is what he had to say about the Raiders and their fans.
Delusion: The Raiders just need a few tweaks and minor upgrades to become Super Bowl contenders.
Reality: The Raiders are Maxx Crosby, Kolton Miller, and a bunch of thirtysomething veterans and slot receivers. They need to either rebuild from the ground up or gingerbread the current roster in pursuit of more fluky wild-card berths. And Josh McDaniels didn’t leave the comfort of the nest because he wanted to rebuild.
I suppose if you figure when he says “slot receiver(s)” he’s not taking Hunter Renfrow lightly. Overall, what he says is difficult to dispute.
It seems unlikely McDaniels is here to tear this thing down to the studs. But, despite the Raiders’ late playoff run last season, there is a lot of work to be done to get them back in the chase.
The offensive line outside of Miller is shaky at best, there is no viable starting outside receivers, the entire interior defensive line is headed for free agency as is top cornerback Casey Hayward. And that’s to say nothing of whether Derek Carr is the right man to get them where they need to go. A highly debatable (and often debated) subject.
Many moves are to be made and questions to be answered this offseason for this team.
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