Oakland Raiders: No Clear Path to Becoming a Contender

The Oakland Raiders are the NFL‘s worst team, and there is no clear path to fixing the team’s problems.

The Oakland Raiders are awful right now. They’re winless, and they haven’t had a genuine shot at winning any of their games. Sadly, these are just the beginnings of their problems. Not only are the awful on the field, their problems off the field have left them with no clear path to becoming a contender once again.

Oakland’s problems begin far from the football field. This is a team with revenue problems that stem from their stadium situation. The team desperately needs a new facility, and it doesn’t appear that the city of Oakland intends on helping them build one.

The Raiders’ lease for O.co Coliseum expires after this season. This leaves the team in limbo. They can continue to play in the old building that they don’t want to play in, or they can look for a new home.

Moving might be ideal for the team’s finances, but it would crush their fanbase that has already been though a lot. It’ll also take time to complete, and none of the prospective destinations (Los Angeles, San Antonio, etc.) have a stadium waiting for them. Of course the Raiders could become the west coast’s version of the Jets and simply share the 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, but that is far from an ideal situation either.

And so the Raiders currently reside in stadium-purgatory. This isn’t a secret, and every potential employee knows the precarious nature of the situation. Few people will sign a long-term contract with an organization when they are unsure where the team call home in a year.

This is one, and clearly not all, of the reasons why the Raiders have had difficulty getting the top free agents to sign in Oakland. The Raiders had more salary cap space than any other team in the NFL this past offseason, but could not get the players they needed to actually take their money.

It is especially alarming that the Raiders weren’t even able to keep their best players. Both Jared Veldheer and Lamarr Houston decided to reject offers from Oakland and take less money to play elsewhere.

The Raiders were able to sign some free agents during this last offseason, but none of those players were highly sought-after commodities. The Raiders were forced to sign a bunch of older players on mostly 1- or 2-year deals. Predictably, most of those contracts haven’t worked out.

The problem of attracting talent isn’t restricted to players either. Oakland always seems to have trouble with potential coaches turning them down. That is a situation which is certain to play out again this offseason after the team fired head coach Dennis Allen in September.

This problem affects the front office as well. General manager Reggie McKenzie has done a less-than ideal job in building this team, but it would be unwise for the team to fire him at this time.

Oakland’s stadium uncertainty and financial woes will prevent the team from acquiring a top candidate, just as is has with players and coaches. Before the team fires McKenzie, they must first know that they can get someone better. It is impossible to say that they can do so with any certainty.

Ideally, the Raiders would bring in high profile coach or general manager that would instantly change the culture of the organization. Seattle did this when they hired Peter Carroll. Philadelphia did the same with Chip Kelly. The problem is that the Raiders are extremely unlikely to attract such a candidate.

There is a reason why Dennis Allen was the league’s lowest-paid coach. The Raiders have never been able to pay for the top coaching talent. They’ve done a good job at times of finding young unproven coaches and letting them make a name for themselves in Oakland. Jon Gruden is perhaps the best example.

Dennis Allen was another attempt finding a coach in that way. Allen was coming off a very successful campaign as Denver’s defensive coordinator, and was viewed as an up-and-coming head coaching candidate. With Allen, it just didn’t work out. Hiring unproven coaches comes with the risk that they will flop the way Allen did.

If the Raiders aren’t able to attract a big name to run their football operations, then they are probably better off keeping McKenzie and finding the next young coordinator deserving of a promotion. Doing that will hardly satisfy their fans, but at least it will buy the organization the time needed to figure out where they are going to be playing their home games in the future.

Besides, McKenzie’s draft picks haven’t been completely terrible. Many haven’t worked out, but Khalil Mack looks like he’s going to be a special player. D.J. Hayden, now that he’s finally healthy and playing, also appears to be potential building block. Throw in Sio Moore, Gabe Jackson and Derek Carr and you have a few pieces that might someday be a part of a good Raiders team.

If the Raiders are willing to swallow McKenzie’s track record as acceptable under the circumstances, then they can move on to finding a new coach. There will be options, though not likely ones that will get the fan base fired up. Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and San Francisco offensive coordination Greg Roman could both be possibilities as will a few others.

And that puts the Raiders right back to where they currently are: with an inexperienced coach, an average (at best) general manager, an inability to attract free agents, and a completely unknown future stadium situation.

That is definitely not ideal place to be for an NFL franchise, and one that leaves them without any clear path to becoming a playoff contender once again.

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