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Jon Gruden isn't exactly taking a unique approach to free agency. In an interview posted on his team's website on Friday, the Oakland Raiders head coach and key personnel decision-maker said his team was hoping to acquire “blossoming young players” this offseason rather than veterans nearing the end of their playing days.
“We've been doing nothing but studying free agents. Guys [whose] contracts are up, obviously we aren’t looking to add players that are at the end of their career,” Gruden said. “We're looking for blossoming young players, those guys usually don’t get to free agency. The pickings are slim for everybody, but there are a couple diamonds in the rough. We'll see where the market goes, but you don’t want to spend all your money that you have on a few free agents, you want to try and keep some of that money available in case a trade might develop during the draft.”
How novel!
Oakland, who went an AFC-worst 4-12 last season, will be targeting talented young players in free agency come March 11th instead of older players whose careers might be on their last legs. And in another bit of team-building ingenuity, the Raiders probably won't spend all of their available cap space this offseason, just in case a potential trade might come along that could require them to have some financial flexibility.
Of course, every team in the NFL entering next season without realistic Super Bowl hopes will be following a blueprint similar to the one Gruden describes above. Whether or not Oakland has a successful offseason, basically, will depend far more on free agents' willingness to sign with a franchise that doesn't have a home in 2019 than their totally innocuous plan to attack free agency.
