3 mistakes the Raiders made this offseason and how to fix them
The Las Vegas Raiders had a lot of work to do this offseason, but some of the moves John Gruden and company made look like costly mistakes.
What will it take for the Raiders to get back to the playoffs? How can Jon Gruden drag the team back into real title contention? Good decisions are the key to it all.
Unfortunately, the move to Las Vegas didn’t take away the Raiders’ penchant for making decisions that make you wonder exactly what they’re trying to accomplish.
These are the biggest mistakes made by the Raiders this offseason, with a few ideas to fix them…
Waiving Maurice Hurst
Maurice Hurst didn’t have a fabulous showing in three years with the Raiders, but he showed promise at times and wasn’t going to cost the team much going into 2021. So they released him. Yeah.
Injuries plagued Hurst, so it makes sense if the team got tired of waiting for him to reach his potential. It’s still strange knowing the player did seem to be improving from year to year, at least in terms of Pro Football Focus grading.
Maurice Hurst overall grades:
— PFF Las Vegas Raiders (@PFF_Raiders) April 16, 2021
2018: 70.1
2019: 73.1
2020: 77.9
Was it a mistake letting him go?
Las Vegas added a bunch of help on the defensive line, but not all of the caliber to suggest they’d make Hurst redundant. Solomon Thomas has never lived up to his No. 3 selection in 2017 and is coming off a torn ACL. Matt Dickerson hasn’t exactly been productive in his young career. Darius Philon hasn’t played since 2018.
The Raiders would have been better off sticking with Hurst than depending on the hodgepodge of signings they amassed.