The final installment of Motley Review has arrived. Personally, I took the time to let the anger and disappointment of the season ferment so I could come up with the most articulate review of this COVID-19 season. Like the Vegas Raiders season, it’ll probably come out mediocre.
The All-Raiders Motley Review team
This is the highest possible honor a Raiders player can receive. This team is reserved for those in Silver and Black who performed well above their contract.
Darren Waller– Duh. Darren Waller was the Raiders’ best player this season and the second-best tight end in all of football. He broke the team’s franchise record for receptions in a season, eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiver mark, and improved all season. This Las Vegas team got a good one in ’83’.
Nelson Agholor– Raise your hand if you thought Nelson Agholor was going to be the Raiders’ best receiver in 2020. Anyone raising their hand is a liar. Even yet, ‘Nelly’ walked in the door on a 1-year prove-it deal.
Rodney Hudson– The most underrated and underappreciated entity in all of pro football. ‘Hud’ suits up every game as one of, if not the, best centers in the game.
Denzelle Good– Injuries ravaged the offensive line early in the season. However, Denzelle Good was able to step in and play both right tackle and left guard well. He proved he is a starter caliber lineman and should get a nice little contract from someone.
Nick Kwiatkoski– Unfortunately, due to injuries and COVID, Kwiatkoski was only able to suit up in 12 games. Still yet, he was Las Vegas’ best defensive player. He’s not a superstar but he did a competent job of commanding the defense and justified his mid-level contract. Something a majority of the defense failed to do.
Related: Only Nation Podcast: Taking A Hike with Former Raiders LS Jon Condo
The All-Motley Shame Team
The lowest and most disrespectful anti-honor a Raider can receive. This team is for guys who didn’t live up to their contract/draft status.
Maliek Collins– For $6 million, the Raiders got 15 tackles and zero sacks. He was a huge disappointment and did nothing all season.
Henry Ruggs III– Don’t sell me on the fact that the Raiders took the first wide reiver in the draft and wanted to use him as a speed decoy to stretch the field. The Alabama product was on the field a lot and yielded little production. A slow start doesn’t guarantee a bad career. Hopeful for better days ahead.
Johnathan Abram– Bad penalties, reckless tackling, and poor coverage defined Johnathan Abram’s 2020 season. The bad far outweighed the occasionally jaw-dropping hit. This was essentially his rookie season also. Don’t give up on the former Raider Nation favorite yet.
Carl Nassib– The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end is as bad as they come. His was such a horrible contract and it made no sense. Carl Nassib did next to nothing all season and was the team’s sixth-largest cap hit. Las Vegas can’t even get out of the contract for another season, so he’ll be back in 2021.
CarrFax
The $100-million question, where do the Raiders go from here at quarterback? Gruden will be forced to come up with the answer and it will define his second tenure at the helm of the Silver and Black.
As for Derek Carr, he played well in 2020. The fumbles were a problem, one that has persisted for far too long. However, he threw the ball well, looked better in the pocket, manipulated the pocket better, took his shots downfield at correct times (mostly), and throwing interceptions wasn’t a major problem.
The frustration within RaiderNation with this Top 10 quarterback is that he is unable to carry the team to the playoff. He doesn’t possess the ability to force a team to the postseason like the highest tier of signal-callers can. He’s in the next tier that needs help around him to reach the postseason. In that regard, Gruden and Mayock have failed him. The Raiders haven’t gotten enough production out of their first-round picks the last two seasons and have wasted more money in free agency than they used prudently.
Carr speculation will swirl all offseason.
Final random thoughts of the season
- Carl Nassib made more money than ‘D-Wall’ this season. That should make you lose sleep.
- The Raiders were just as good with Trent Brown as they were without him. The variance between right tackles is too small to justify paying that much for one. He has to go.
- Nevin Lawson is on every single wide receiver 2020 highlight clip on YouTube.
- The Raiders paid Marcus Mariota $7.5 million to hold a clipboard for 15 games.
- He played well enough in his one game to have some modest trade value.
- Please play Bryan Edwards next season, Jon. I’m actually on my knees begging.
- All respect to Jason Witten but he’s too dadgum old to be playing over Foster Moreau.
- I can only remember two plays from Arden Key’s career.
- Last year when he kicked Deshaun Watson in the face and Watson still managed to throw a touchdown.
- This year when he got the facemask penalty on the Fitzpatrick answered prayer that set up the game-winning field goal.
- Raider players were awfully critical of the fans on Twitter to be going 8-8 and missing the playoffs.
- Pretty wishy-washy if you ask me.
Final Remarks about the Raiders
This has been fun. Thank you all that followed along. Shout-out my new Raider Twitter followers. Next year is our year. Go Raiders.
You May Also Like: Raiders 2020 Rewind: QB Derek Carr had a career year in 2020
Top Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
