The Raiders are happy with what they’ve done this offseason, restocking their roster with veteran free agents and rookies from what has the potential to be a good draft class.
Yet for as much as they’ve improved, there are some who believe Oakland still ranks far below the NFL’s top teams in pure talent.
The analytic website Pro Football Focus recently published its annual rating of every team’s depth chart, and not a single player on the Oakland roster is given a grade of “elite.” Only second-year outside linebacker Khalil Mack is graded as “high quality” and just five of 22 starters is rated as “good” (Donald Penn, Gabe Jackson, Rodney Hudson, Justin Tuck and Dan Williams).
Three starters – second-year quarterback Derek Carr, offensive lineman Khalif Barnes and tight end Mychal Rivera – are “below average.” One, new middle linebacker Curtis Lofton is listed as “poor.”
One positive note is that the offensive line in general is perhaps the most solid part of the team.
“The signing of Rodney Hudson at center solidifies an offensive line which looks pretty good from center to left tackle, with Hudson, Gabe Jackson and Donald Penn all playing well enough to be considered better than average,” analyst Ben Stockwell wrote. “Austin Howard is a solid right tackle, with the only concern coming from Khalif Barnes at right guard.”
Barnes, however, isn’t a sure thing at guard. He could be pushed by rookie Jon Feliciano or Matt McCants.
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Lofton, the free agent signed from the Saints, was noted as a liability, though in his NFL career he’s been a very active player who’s posted a high number of tackles each season.
Wrote PFF: “At middle linebacker they had to find an upgrade for Miles Burris, but we question how much of an upgrade Curtis Lofton actually is for them, with his own struggles in recent years.”
Part of that concern was Lofton’s 22 missed tackles in 2014, according to PFF.
But Mike Triplett, who covers the Saints for ESPN.com, wrote in March that that stat isn’t a true measure of Lofton’s worth and that many of those missed tackles came because he was “hustling to try and chase down a play.”
Wrote Triplett: “He’s a terrific inside run defender who often set the tone as hard-hitting ‘thumper’ at the point of attack. Even PFF credited Lofton with more tackles than any player in the league last year (123) and credited him with 58 ‘stops,’ which it calculates as solo tackles that resulted in an offensive failure.”
The PFF ratings do offer some hope for the Raiders: Running back Latavius Murray grade is "Not Enough Info" because of his limited playing time. And many of the players added to the roster -- who could play huge roles, such as receiver Amari Cooper and defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. -- aren't graded as positive or negative players because they haven't yet proven themselves.
