I'm excited y'all. Love that everyone has the Raiders as the 32nd team in the NFL.
I think we'll compete hard every week, idk exactly how many wins we'll get, it depends on Flynn and McFadden.
I'm thinking somewhere around 6-8 wins.
Breakout player: Lamaar Houston is the best player on this team
I'm hoping Sio (and Hayden, if healthy) can make a push for DROY.
53 man projection:
Offense: 25
Flynn/Wilson/Pryor
McFadden/Jennings/Murray
Reece
Rivera/Ausberry/Kasa
Streater/Moore/Ford/Cribbs/Criner/Vernon
Watson/Barnes
Brisel
Wiz/Parsons
Bergstorm/Nix
Veldheer/Barron
Camp battles:
Qb is pretty much Flynn but I don't have much faith in him. We'll see how it goes.
RBs are set, I think those 6 will be the WRs... Butler on the practice squad. DMO needs to have a year like his rookie year. Knapp got him with his dumb *** playcalls but he's still capable. I think Streater is our 1 tho... I see him doing big things if Flynn can actually throw it.
Ausberry and Gordon: Probably have 3 TEs and I see both rookies making it.
LT and C are locked down, everything else is up for grabs. This is our biggest weakness again. Nix/Parsons/Barron are whatever to me.
I hate seeing Barnes on the field, but I think he provides good depth. I really hated Willie Smith tho, I never want to see him again.
We don't have much depth so I'm hoping some unsigned rookie just steps up. Watson would be huge but I'm not expecting much right away.
Bergstorm gotta step it up for real, Brisel too.
Defense: 25
Houston/Hunter
Sims/McGee
Walker/Bilikudi
Carter/Bass/Crawford
Maiava/Burris
Roach
Burnett/Moore
Hayden/Adams/Chekwa/Jones
Branch/Ross
Woodson/Young
Porter/Jenkins/Hanson
Lamaar Houston is the Raiders best player. He's gunna prove it this year, I think the dline is pretty much set with that 9.
I expect to see Sio with his hand on the ground in 3rd downs too.
Seeing Wheeler go will hurt, but I like our core. I think Sio will surprise and Roach will be solid. Burnett is a vet and Burris is a solid 3-4 lb.
I expect 6 LBs on our roster so either Clayton, the other Burnett or some random undrafted lb will take the 6th spot.
Defensive backfield is the best I've seen in Oakland for a while. Branch and Woodson hold down the Safety spots.
I like what I saw from Phillip Adams and B. Ross towards the end of last year, they're good depth. Hayden has to show he's worth that pick, he has to start.
Porter can start with Hanson in the slot. Jenkins is whatever, but at least he provides depth. I think the Raiders will drop one of Chekwa or Jones for another LB. Unless Chekwa shows vast improvement, I think Jones get the edge. Unless Jones is flat out horrendous at CB during training camp, I think he'll make it for his special teams contributions as the gunner.
Special Teams: 3
Janikowski, Kluwe, Kondo
LETS GOOOOOO. Preseason in like 2/3 weeks!!!