Oakland Raiders: State of Franchise at the Start of the 2014 Offseason

[Doublejive]

Oakland Raiders: State of Franchise at the Start of the 2014 Offseason


The 2014 offseason will be the most important rebuilding phase for general manager Reggie McKenzie, head coach Dennis Allen and the Oakland Raiders franchise.

With past financial obstacles essentially off the books, and an increased value now placed on holding on to draft selections, the staff will have plenty of ways to add talent to this team if done properly.

The 2012 and 2013 seasons under this regime were far from ideal in the win-loss column, but given the situation, not much more could have been expected.

The slates are now clean, the management and coaching foundations are in place, and it is time to see what this group can do in getting the Raiders back to where they belong.

Heading into the 2014 offseason, here is a look at the Oakland Raiders’ state of the franchise.

Oakland Raiders: State of Franchise at the Start of the 2014 Offseason | Bleacher Report

 

[Doublejive]

"As much as some may disagree, the 2013 season showed that the Raiders have a coaching staff capable of maximizing the talent on the roster. Combine that with management now having the necessary resources to stockpile talent in relatively short order, and the Raiders could compete for the playoffs much sooner than many think."


"Now, after two seasons of shedding contracts and biting the dead-money bullets, the Raiders are set to emerge from the financial mess and will have more space under the salary cap than any other team in the NFL.

To be more specific, before re-signing their own free-agent players, the Raiders will have upward of $60 million available, per OvertheCap.com.

As high as that current figure is, it still does not take into account the possibility of the team cutting a few more players to create additional cap space, looking elsewhere to fill those spots.

Simply put, the Raiders will have plenty of money to compete for whichever free agents they want on the open market.

Of course, the key will be spending wisely and avoiding making the same mistakes again, but the front office now has the flexibility to add plenty of proven and veteran talent in just one offseason."

 

[flaraider]

Either way, re-signing both Veldheer and Houston should be the Raiders’ first priority this offseason, and doing so well before the franchise tag even comes into the discussion. Both are potential cornerstones to the future of this team, and the organization needs to make a point of keeping its homegrown talent.

Charles Woodson, Rashad Jennings, Vance Walker, Mike Jenkins, Tracy Porter, Usama Young and Khalif Barnes are all free agents as well and should be players whom the Raiders are interested in bringing back.

Darren McFadden and Jacoby Ford, due to their decreased roles, are less certain to be priorities for the team before to free agency gets underway, but reasonable price tags could certainly change that as well.



I would like to see our re-signings done as quickly and decisively as possible, as the Al Davis years waned, it always seemed painfully slow in decision making, which continually limited our options. Going forward I would like to see a more positive feeling of our overall vision of team building.