Oakland Raiders: Another Offseason

Once again the annual question has come up: How do we fix the Raiders this offseason? Believe it or not this team is actually pretty close to being a serious AFC threat. Yet somehow they can never get it together. 

It certainly makes it tough to compete with a new coaching staff every year trying to build the team from combine stars while the owner calls down plays from the '70s. 

Hey Jon Gruden had success that way, why not Tom Cable? Like I said this team is close and they could become a playoff contender this year. Here's how:

First they have to make sure they keep their best player: Nnamdi Asomugha. They will franchise tag him by the deadline tomorrow. After that they need to sit down with him and give him whatever he wants in a contract. 

If he wants seven years for $80 million then give it to him. After all they gave DeAngelo Hall seven years for $70 million and he didn't even play half as well as Nnamdi.

Next they have to resign Shane Lechler. I know he's a punter but he's the best punter in the league right now, maybe ever. He constantly gives the Raiders great field posistion and that is a much bigger advantage than most people realize.

After that they have free agency and the draft. Now we all know that with Al Davis, anything is possible. We could sign T.J. Houshmandzadeh or Albert Haynesworth, trade for Anquan Boldin or Julius Peppers, or shock the world with a bunch of strange transactions (see Javon Walker and DeAngelo Hall).

Realistically we can only hope to build from the draft. Our priorities need to be offensive line starting at tackle, then wide receiver. After that we should go with best players available in the defensive front seven.

Having the same head coach will be great for this team. The players respect him and he got results at the end of last year. This team is close to playoff contention and if this offseason is handled correctly they can get there.