It’s been a unique offseason for the Raiders and with free agency largely in the rear view, it’s not too soon to start looking back at where the organization has been winning and losing at rebuilding the roster.
The trade for Geno Smith was the defining move of the offseason to this point for the Raiders. The re-signing of Maxx Crosby was expected, but still an important development for an organization that isn’t looking to take a step back in Pete Carroll’s first season as head coach.
Vegas also suffered a couple of key personnel losses in recent weeks and according to Hondo Carpenter, none were bigger than the loss of Robert Spillane.
Asked on his daily podcast if the Raiders have made any mistakes in the offseason, Hondo didn’t hesitate to point to Spillane.
“Yes, the not signing of Robert Spillane… I think that was a horrific mistake,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “But the ability to get a land in Roberts was big and at the price they got him for.”
“Signing Spillane for what he got with his other team would not have been overpaying for him,” Hondo continued. “I know there was a lot of regret in the building. Not finger pointing like ‘Spytek, you screwed up’ or anything like that, but there was a lot of disappointment in that building by a lot of people when they lost [Spillane]. I think Elandon Roberts was a great signing that nullifies the pain.”
Not only did the Raiders lose Spillane to the Patriots, but it would also seem their no. 1 option to replace Spillane was lost to the Patriots.
On Monday, the Patriots matched the Raiders’ offer sheet for fourth-year linebacker Christian Elliss.
The offer sheet was a two-year, $13.5 million contract, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, so the Raiders were looking to pay Elliss more than four times the total money they will be paying Roberts.
Now, in the third week of April, the linebacker position looks to be one of the weakest position groups on the Vegas roster. With Spillane in the lineup, it had become arguably the most reliable.
It will be interesting to see how the Raiders address the linebacker position going forward, but for now it seems like the decision to let Spillane leave might be the team’s most challenging decision to recover from.
For what it’s worth, Carpenter said in February that if the decision makers in Las Vegas let Spillane get to free agency, he would be difficult to re-sign.
“There is going to be massive interest in Robert Spillane. The Raiders know this,” Hondo said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast in February. “There are multiple teams that if he gets to free agency, I believe it would be, I’m not saying impossible, very difficult for the Raiders [to re-sign him]. I know that they are going to prioritize keeping him. I’ve been told that in the organization. They want to keep him.”
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Spillane’s leadership loss will be felt more than his on-field play. While he excelled at rush defense he was a total liability in pass coverage. The LB that were signed in FA should fill the void.