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The Las Vegas Raiders actually pushed for a playoff spot during their final season in Oakland in 2019. But ultimately, they went just 7-9 due to a second-half slide.
Honestly, it's hard to imagine the Raiders being much better in 2020, because most of the same issues that existed this past season remain going into this year.
Las Vegas has numerous holes, but its biggest problem is its unreliable receiving corps.
Of course, it wasn't supposed to be this way for the Raiders. They thought they would have Antonio Brown for the foreseeable future after acquiring him in a blockbuster trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. But due to a series of incidents in training camp and Brown just being Brown, he didn't even play a single game with the club before being released.
That left Derek Carr with Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow and not much else in the form of wide receivers. Had it not been for tight end Darren Waller breaking out, it's difficult to even fathom how paltry the Raiders' aerial attack would have been.
Las Vegas didn't do a whole lot to address its poor receiving corps in free agency, only signing Philadelphia Eagles castoff Nelson Agholor. Instead, the Raiders decided to focus on the NFL Draft, taking Alabama's Henry Ruggs III with the 12th overall pick.
While Ruggs is a speedster with big-play ability, the selection was a strange one, especially considering that Ruggs' collegiate teammate, Jerry Jeudy, was on the board.
Jeudy may very well be the best all-around wide out in this draft class, so Las Vegas' decision to roll with the potential of Ruggs as a vertical threat was certainly risky. And I wasn't all that crazy about it.
I understand that some scouts love Ruggs, but he wasn't overly productive at Alabama and was clearly the No. 2 guy behind Jeudy. That doesn't necessarily guarantee that Jeudy will be the better NFL receiver, but he is certainly more polished than Ruggs and seems more ready right off the bat.
So right now, Carr has Williams, Ruggs, Renfrow and Agholor, none of whom is a No. 1 guy. Williams is a good No. 2, Renfrow is a slot receiver and Agholor struggled as a No. 3 in Philadelphia. I guess you can say Ruggs has No. 1 potential, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Clearly, this is an area of need for the Raiders, and barring a spectacular rookie campaign from Ruggs, it's something that will likely plague the team throughout the year, much like it did in 2019.
Fortunately, Las Vegas has top running back Josh Jacobs to take some of the load off the passing game. But at some point, the Raiders are going to have to air it out, and I just don't see how much fear that group of receivers will strike into the hearts of opposing secondaries.
Perhaps Carr can improvise and make the receiving corps look better. Or maybe Ruggs really is the real deal. But at the moment, this seems to be an obvious weak spot in the Raiders' offense.
