The Las Vegas Raiders have certainly had an eventful offseason. They hired a new general manager in Dave Ziegler. They brought in Josh McDaniels to be their next coach. And they traded for arguably the best receiver in the NFL in Davante Adams.
Those are just three of their biggest moves this offseason as the Raiders believe they can be a Super Bowl contender this year. But have they done enough this offseason to actually be taken seriously?
In a recent article by Ian Wharton of Bleacher Report, he graded every team’s offseason moves before the 2022 NFL Draft. Not surprisingly, the Raiders were given the highest grade of all 32 teams with an “A”. Here is what Wharton had to say about their moves to date:
“Headlining acquisitions Davante Adams and Chandler Jones are obvious names worth pointing out. They addressed the two weakest links on this team in 2021. Both the offense and defense received as significant an individual upgrade as they possibly could.
The front office also has to be commended for the depth and youth it added to the defense. Twenty-seven-year-old linebacker Jayon Brown and 28-year-old cornerback Anthony Averett are upside signings who can invigorate the unit. Look for the Raiders to be much more versatile and explosive in 2022.”
The only position the Raiders weren’t able to upgrade during free agency is the offensive line. However, the expectation is that they will use their top pick (No. 86) to find a potential right tackle. Other than that, they have significantly improved their team since we saw them in the playoffs.
It’s hard to be too critical of anything the Raiders did this offseason. They didn’t have a ton of cap space and yet, their roster is good enough to be a legitimate contender in the AFC. For that reason alone, they deserve some high marks for their moves.
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