It may feel like it, but the Raiders season isn’t over yet.
Nevertheless, it’s time to start talking about next year and with the best interest of this year in mind, here are few players (and a coach) you might want to enjoy now… because they’re not going to be around next year.
He did little to earn his return this year, but the players and coaches like him so the Raiders hoped the third year would be a charm for defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., whose contract is believed to expire after the season.
It hasn’t worked out (that’s being nice) and there’s zero chance Jack Del Rio is jumping on that grenade for another year.
He gone.
Less than a year ago, a wise man suggested the Raiders should take a hard look at Wisconsin linebacker T.J. Watt with their first-round pick. Bruce Irvin turned 30 this year and it’s always smart to stay ahead of the age curve with pass rushers.
Instead, the Raiders drafted D.J. Hayden Gareon Conley and Watt dropped to the Steelers where he’s having an impressive rookie season.
Bruce Irvin turned 30 in November and he’s not been nearly as effective this year. Irvin will count $8.25 million against the cap next year and the Raiders can release him after the season with no dead money to show for it.
He gone.
Finally, if you’re wanting to see Sean Smith in silver and black, you better get to the Coliseum soon. Like Irvin, Smith will count $8.25 million against the cap and he might not be worth a quarter of that.
Smith has legal matters to resolve after the season and the Raiders will gladly cut ties with the 30 year-old cornerback after the season. Were it not for guaranteed money this year, he probably wouldn’t have made it this far.
He gone.
Those were easy. The final candidate to receive his pink slip is a bit of a wild card. It’s his first season as coordinator, but how bad does the Raiders offense have to be for Del Rio to part ways with offensive coordinator Todd Downing?
After last season, no one would have guessed the offense could return this chaotic, but somehow here we are.
Stats don’t tell the whole story, but Derek Carr is on pace to have his worst season in the NFL since his rookie season. He looks frustrated. The coaches look frustrated and if things don’t turn around quickly, it’ll be hard to blindly hope things will get better under Downing a year from now.
twitter: @raidersbeat
FIRE DOWNING, FIRE NORTON JR, AND DEL RIO PANTS SHOULD BE ON FIRE RIGHT NOW SITTING ON THAT HOT SEAT. GRRRRRRRRR…. SO DISAPPOINTED IN HOW MCKENZIE IS RUNNING (RUINING) THE SHOW. MARK DAVIS DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE. OVERHAUL! OVERHAUL!! OVERHAUL!!! ..JON GRUDEN WHERE ARE YOU…………………………………
I totally agree…if AlDavis was living heads would of been rolling in week 4 …mark is definitely not Al…why wait til next year to fire Norton…do it today…
Al davis put this shitty franchise in the
Same situation for 15 yrs???..wtf u smoking??..Im glad hes dead
Yeah he would have like he has always done and our team would continue to be irrelevant and even more dysfunctional. They didn’t even have a practice facility under Al. Holes all over the field. Not maintained. Every other team has state of the art facilities and stadiums. A clear advantage. The stadium he couldn’t control but the facilities are on him. Al Davis never adapted and change in operation was overdue. Firing everyone every year doesn’t work. That’s Al’s playbook. Gotta try a new way and have patience. In fact they never should have fired Musgrave. Alot of people got their wish and now look at our **** offense. But Norton has been given plenty of time and a weak defense has not improved half way through year 3. Really no change at all in that time. He had his chance.
Downing is not getting fired because Jack hired him and firing him now will make Jack look even more stupid. Del Rio has a short leash considering that Mark hired him. The scouting department better find gems for next year’s draft. Reggie is managing the books well to buy himself time. Nelson should be on the list of departures.
I was hoping they would draft Watt, but we got Conley. Both positions were desperate for talent on the Raiders. The frustrating thing for me, and all of us, is that with this coaching staff we really don’t know how good some of our players can be. The coaching is so abysmal that it does not matter who we draft or sign; the coaches will not know how to use them. We all see what is wrong, but JDR is losing this team and fan base. I know that Reg is regretting giving JDR an extension. How could he have known that this would happen, and Del Rio would respond in this manner? I like Reg, but I am bewildered as to why we are not signing players to fill holes we have. I understand not bringing in “guys with bad character”, but there must be somebody out there. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but we can see that KNJ, TD, the DL coach, the DB coach, and now I’ll throw in JDR have to go. Our window of opportunity is closing, and guys are getting older. Coaching changes can make a huge difference. Look at the Rams and Eagles.
Get rid of Cancer Lynch and rest of Seahawks rejects. Reggie was building young team with high character players and blew it bringing in disrespectful Lynch setting terrible example. Flipping off cameras, defending opposing players during scuffle. I don’t watch anymore! After 40 years of die hard fan and had season tickets even though I live in Seattle. To top it off he stands for Mexico anthem and sits for US anthem. POS to the highest. Who taught this guy English he sounds so ignorant . Then they push him like he is some great guy in the community .
**** off john, 40 years my ***, a real die hard raider wouldnt stop watching, so go back to cheering for Seattle you flip flop, and beast mode is here to stay. Acting like he’s the reason why we’re losing, obviously you don’t need to watch something you know nothing about, go back to water polo softy, and get out your feelings.
Facts…buster stay in seattle
Lol
Lol man I agree 40 years my azz. After Jamarcus Russell, Darius Hayward-bey and Robert Gallery? When we could have drafted someone like Larry Fitzgerald? Half of Larry is worth 10 times all 3 of those top 10 draft picks. Now this gut wants to give up on the silver and black because we are 4-6 and Lynch is disrespecting? Gimme a break. What a joke. COACHING IS EVERYTHING!!!! From Bantum league all the way to the Pro’s. COACHING IS EVERYTHING!!! How many bad coaches or even horrible coaches have won a Super Bowl? EXACTLY!
Totally agree, Lynch the has been, needs to go, a virus like this can be contagious in the locker room as well as the field. He has not helped the team at all. Send him back to the streets of oakland. The Raiders don’t need this disrespectful piece of crap. I quit watching because of this poor example of a football pro. My Raider memories will remain with the Raiders of years past. How can fans continue to defend this clown is beyond me.
How can you call someone you don’t know disrespectful and a clown yet expect people you don’t know to respect your opinion?? You’re a lame and a virus to this forum and I expect you to respect my opinion, you bozo you.
You stopped watching because of blah blah blah. Your reason doesn’t matter. We know you are fake and aren’t really a fan of the Raiders or football. We don’t stop watching for political bullshit reasons or any reason. In fact all of you bullshitters, dont waste our time. Post that crap on niner chief or broncos sites. I only consider not watching when I’m throwing up from the garbage i have been seeing all game long and that is only considering it. If I leave the room and they start doing well then I won’t watch if its working. That’s it. That’s what your dealing with. Leave us alone with that political bullshit. We hope and get fooled 16x a year then line up to do it again the next year every year. Mostly ending in tears. Raider Fucking Fans. Your in the wrong place. Oh also if they moved to Irwindale or San Antonio then I would consider not watching.
Lynch is the least of the Raiders’ problems.
On target. Have no confidence in JDR at this point, however, and would prefer someone else hiring new coordinators. Shame to see this,season wasted by poor coaching & poor personnel decisions.
Here’s what’s wrong with the Silver and Black. First of all, let’s start with the fact that the team overachieved last year. They won every close game, coming back in the fourth quarter an historic 7 times to wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. They were able to do so, despite having a terrible defense ranked 26th in the league, because the team played with passion and focus, with a unified vision of getting deep into the playoffs and possibly to the Super Bowl.
This year they seemed to start off with the same passion and focus for the first two games. Then something called Donald Trump happened to start to derail them. He made his despicable remarks about firing the ‘sons of bitches’ (i.e. socially conscious black players) that knelt for the national anthem. On a team with a coach that, it turns out, supported Trump and practically demanded early on that the team stand for the anthem. That clearly didn’t go over too well. Add to that the fact that the Raiders have a conservative Christian quarterback that opposes the protests but, apparently, believes in child labor (read one of his posts some time back) and you had the team come out completely flat against Washington and get its brains beat out.
These distractions have amplified the differences within the team, causing the players to lose the unity, passion and focus they needed to get through a more difficult schedule this year than last. Add to all this the poorer coaching (Del Rio must have had a falling out with Musgrave to cause him to replace Musgrave with Downing, a huge mistake) and the fact that the team is going to Vegas in a couple of years( which likely doesn’t set too well with the players) and you’ve got the spiritless, unfocused (see ‘number of dropped passes’), dysfunctional mess you saw in Mexico on Sunday.
Whether this gets better, or worse, remains to be seen. For the moment, Del Rio seems to have lost the team. It will take a lot of hard work, and some major attitude adjustment, to get it back.
Carr believes in child labor??? Huh? It pissed me off that I have to put up with the political garbage in a game that I watch to get away from all that! Whatever happen in DC needs to be put behind and let’s focus on the future.
Yeah, the future that has the Raiders playing in Vegas? That future? Are you one of those ‘fans’ that can be abused left and right, but will still come back for more?
Have fun in Vegas!!
Yes and thank you 👍
Hey guys um. You do realize they just played the Pats? Let’s face it they are really good, like 6 Superbowls good. They most certainly beat there selves but that game was either going to be a close on or they were going to be blown out. Fundamentals like catching the football and protecting the football does not fall on the coaches. These players have been taught that since Pop Warner.
Beastmode was really the only one on offense that showed up. The oline block well in the run game but just ok in the passing game. Also about the anthem thing Beastmode was being worked on by trainers when he was standing.
Anyway the season isn’t over and Del Rio hasn’t lost this team. It’s pretty ignorant to assume he has considering he took over a 3-13 team
Big deal the Raiders are 4-6 now and only two games behind the division leader who has lost 4 out of 5 games and got beat by one of the worst teams.
If there’s a team in the NFL that’s got the talent to dig their selves out of a hole it’s this team. It was wishful thinking that their run would start with the Pats but the Raiders where beat by the best , and embarrassed. Don’t expect it to happen again. And if they do sneak into the playoffs , which appears to be very possible. That game against the Pats could serve to be excellent motivation for them to bring it in an even more important game against the Pats in the post season. Raiders are not dead yet.
Ah, ever optimistic Raidahs fan! We’ll see if this season is going into the toilet, or if the Pats game – along with the Ravens, Broncos, Bills and Redskins games – were just an anomaly. If they go on this magical run you’re predicting, I’ll tip my hat and admit my mistake. However, if the remainder of the season goes as it has thus far, and the Raidahs wind up 7-9 or 6-10, be prepared to admit you’re wrong and I’m not so ignorant after all.
Agreed?
Nobody like to hear the truth when things aren’t going right, but, whatever. The truth about the “Oakland Raiders” is that they have been run by a family that has abused Oakland for years. Al got ownership by screwing Wayne Valley and silencing all the minor partners. It was all good for the fans while winning and being interesting, but as Al aged and lost his mojo, the team became irrelevant. After Al passed his wife who was the legal owner turned to her son Mark and dumped the team in his lap. Al never included Mark in the teams business because Mark was a loafer and a dumb *** among other things, so when Mark got the team he turned to Reggie and others to help him. The whole Mark Davis agenda surrounding the teams relocation tells you all you need to know about Mark. He got and NFL team for nothing other than his DNA and likewise, wanted a stadium for free. Mark never made the business decisions that would have the Raiders self finance an new stadium in Oakland like getting local businesses to help or banks to float loans. So Mark did what he does best by trying to get something for nothing by using others to do his work for him. He got aced from LA and turned to Vegas. Now with this inferior product he has called the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, he will enter a market lacking the financial ability to support a season ticket holder base thus relying on outsiders from LA, Oakland and visiting team fans. Mark’s house of cards is a year or two away from collapsing and the Raider Nation will evaporate as well. JDR has reached his level of incompetence and Reggie is no Ron Wolf. The Reggie method of drafting injured players and aging players with no game left has left the Raiders with out any possibility of greatness. They all need to go including Mark. He has no business or financial clout to run a sports team.
Well done!!
Lynch isn’t the problem. In fact, he was one of the few that showed up on Sunday.
Making him the scapegoat for the failings of the rest of the team, the coaching staff and management will get you nowhere!!
yeah, what 70s raider fan says
Hahahahah!!!! Homies we all got played this year. If you recall we were 12-1 odds to make super bowl. We picked up key players that produced crap. Patterson legit, was rarely used. Cook best Tight end in years… the Twin Towers Richard and Washington were not even used to their full potential. Carr played scared after the Washington game 🤔!!! And the OC playing calling a joke. So predictable… what kills me the most being a DIe HARD RAIDER Fan!!!! Is the dam coaches expect EXCELLENCE rather than DEMAND!!!!! Gruden chewed players asses off. Jack Del Softy is not cutting it. Corner Backs are slow and Karl plays like he is 6’ 5” 260lbs.
When is the last time we saw a 125 million dollar *** hole stud. Hmmm maybe Mack the Truck should have picked up the 125 Million. But regardless, we are fans and love our Raiders… but dammit we fight and talk as if we are on the field playing…we are loyal fans and want to see everyone play like KO, Lee Smith, Hudson, Joesph, Mack,Autry, Vanderdoes, Washington, Richard, Patterson, Crabtree, Olawale and Edwards.
We have a long shot to making playoffs. All we can do is hope that players give a **** and play with heart ❤️ not money… as for Lynch!!! See ya Homie!!! You a bust with dreads and moves. You got us hyped up at Jets game and we crashed and burned. Stick to dancing!!!
It’s all good tho!!! Cause Raider Legend Jersey’s will always be worn and not thrown away!!! How do y’all want to remembered or do you give a crap!!!
Hasta Cabrones!!! Till next time
Are you guys honestly acting like this is on Lynch. Did you even watch the game on Sunday? He was the only one that showed up. Lynch haters need to get over it. He has been running hard the whole season. Pretty sure he has more broken tackles then most in the league but the online won’t open any holes. Hard to run through four defenders faces at once.
TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE ON COACHING STAFF HIRE JON GRUDEN!!!
Facts…buster stay in seattle
JDR has never won a division title. hes at his best slowly creeping up his team’s record so they can be 2nd in their div = mission accomplished last year. now hes done. prior to last year he had only been in the playoffs twice. lets face it OAK had talent and luck and overachieved last year with the rise of Richard and Washington and Irvin and Cooper (all of whom have disappeared this season). With Irvin underperforming, Jelani Jenkins gone before he started, and Perry Riley walking away in free agency, its as if McKenzie doesnt know what a good LB looks like if theyre not named Mack or Bowman – and then KNJ plays Mack as DE and not a LB. McKenzie has picked duds since 2014, or released the wrong guys (Korey Toomer) and basically drafted DJ Hayden twice!