After an impressive 12-4 campaign in 2016, it’s no secret the Silver and Black are back. This may seem rather obvious at this point in time, but one year ago the franchise and its fan base still didn’t quite know what they had in Derek Carr after going 7-9 in 2015.
Of all the positional groups heading into The Oakland Raiders 2017 season, it’s hard to ignore the potential of the stable of running backs. This was an unproven group prior to the 2016 season with former Raider Latavius Murray being their only experienced back at the time. That year, Murray faced minimal competition before he earned the starting role. The battles for the depth was settled among added 5th round draft pick DeAndre Washington, (Legendary Raider George Atkinson’s son) George Atkinson III and an unknown UDFA in Jalen Richard. Despite some highlight reel moments from Atkinson III, the retention of promising camp back Jalen Richard sealed Atkinson’s tenure with the Raiders.
Sebastian Janikowski, affectionately known as “SeaBass”, was thoroughly enjoying his candid moment at the podium yesterday. Day two of Raiders mini-camp had just wrapped up when the Polish Rocket stepped up to the mic. “I’m just here so I wont get fined” Sebastian Janikowski was the 17th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft and has …
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The Oakland Raiders have had some rocky recent history when it comes to Week 1 games (2-6 since 2009). Knowing how last season started and ended, there’s a bit of pressure on the Raiders to start 2017 1-0. That being said…
As Raider Nation takes a look at the 2017 schedule for the Oakland Raiders, it should be pointed that the defense will be tested all year-long by some of the most talented tight ends in the sport.
Communication was supposed to be the specialty of Norton and if he no longer is capable of handling that on his own, there won’t be a need for him much past the end of his contract. Pagano may be content to bide his time but nobody should be fooled Norton’s time as DC is running out.
As the team prepares for the upcoming season all eyes will be on Mack to not only repeat last year’s performance but perhaps improve on it, as crazy as that may sound. As the only true pass rushing threat last season it’ll be interesting to see if all additions will give Mack not only some help but maybe allow him to go one on one against blockers, maybe even raising the sack production to an insane level.
Playing with a monstrous offensive line and a future superstar in quarterback Derek Carr puts Lynch in prime position to have a season for the ages. Looking at some examples history says that a Raider having an outstanding season past the age of 30 hasn’t exactly happened; Lynch might be the one to set a new trend.
Everyone loves the first round of the NFL draft when teams choose the biggest names coming out of college. Al Davis chose 555 players in his long career, from Tony Lorick to Terrelle Pryor, including Marcus Allen, Jack Tatum, Tim Brown, Sebastian Janikowski, and many other great Raiders in Round One.
Yet he, his scouts, and general managers also found many stars in Round Two, many of them small-school or obscure players who went on to stellar careers. More recently, the Oakland Raiders have added three intriguing players to the defense from Round Two in the last three drafts—Mario Edwards in 2015, Jihad Ward in 2016, and Obi Melifonwu this year.
Mack’s worth more than that, but at this point and since negotiations toward a new deal have not started, it’s uncertain how much money he’s going to demand; contract talks can take two different turns: One where he becomes one of the highest-paid overall players in the NFL or a more modest one in which he gets millions but leaves money on the table in order to help the Raiders manage their salary cap. At this point, both scenarios are equally possible as he has performed at an elite level.
