Today marks exactly two weeks since the open of free agency. Thus far the Raiders have been busy. They’ve acquired 20 new players either as free agent additions or via trade. The question is, however, how many of those new players would be considered started based on the current makeup of the team?
Let’s take a look at what that starting lineup might be if the season started today.
*denotes newly acquired player
Offense
QB Derek Carr
RB Josh Jacobs
FB Jakob Johnson*
WR Davante Adams*
WR Bryan Edwards
SWR Hunter Renfrow
TE Darren Waller
LT Kolton Miller
LG John Simpson
C Andre James
RG Alex Leatherwood
RT Denzelle Good
Notes: There are three positions among this lineup that are not settled — WR, G, and T.
Bryan Edwards will get pushed by newcomer Demarcus Robinson. Though I think Edwards will win that challenge, it could ultimately end up coming down to what type of receiver they want on the other side of Adams.
Guard and tackle are unsettled because the team has several players who can player either position (but none who are a lock to start at RT) and it’s about finding the right combination. Depending on whether Leatherwood shows improvement as a tackle, he and Good could be interchangeable on the right side. Overall, it’s not a great situation that they don’t have a solid right tackle option, just several possibles.
Defense
DT Bilal Nichols*
DT Andrew Billings*
ED Maxx Crosby
ED Chandler Jones*
LB Denzel Perryman
LB Divine Deablo
CB Trayvon Mullen
CB Rock Ya-Sin*
SCB Nate Hobbs
SS Johnathan Abram
FS Tre’von Moehrig
Notes: Unsettled positions based on current players on the roster are DT and LB.
Once again the Raiders signed a bunch of DTs. But unlike last year, none of the players they added have shown starter potential. Vernon Butler and Kyle Peko will push for playing time as well.
Deablo finished last season strong at the outside linebacker spot, but he will have challengers for his job from newcomers Micah Kiser, Jayon Brown, and Kyle Fackrell.
There has been a lot of rumors flying around that the Raiders are interested in signing free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu. If there is any truth to that and they somehow end up landing him, obviously he would be inserted as the starter over Johnathan Abram.