Oakland Raiders: Ranking Remaining Offseason Priorities

A critical part of excelling in the NFL is knowing your assignment and fulfilling your role in the best possible fashion. The Oakland Raiders now have a roster bustling with young talent in need of direction.

The team drafted a couple of hybrid position players. It’s also plausible some current players will become tweeners between positions on the field. Versatility is key, but the Raiders have to use the skill sets in the right places on the field.

Oakland’s coaches should spend the beginning of this offseason defining roles and creating open competition for weaker positions to help players develop and get a head start on the 2015 season.

We’ll take a look at an early checklist of priorities for the Raiders’ offseason. This checklist will focus on the basics of building a winning football team. What roles are best for certain players? Who deserves a second look as a starter? Who deserves extra focus in player development?

Move Khalil Mack to Defensive End

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Khalil Mack revealed in a recent interview with Greg Papa on 95.7 The Game (h/t raiderbeat.com) that he has bulked up and now weighs 265 pounds, which is 13 pounds heavier than his playing weight last season.

This is an early indicator Mack could play more defensive end than just a handful of sub-packages. In fact, with the influx of linebackers on the roster, Mack should play DE permanently. The Raiders’ linebacker racked up a total of four sacks in 2014, three of which came as the team began to experiment with his field position within the last four games of the season.

As a rookie, Mack was ranked the best outside linebacker in the league, per Pro Football Focus. However, the Raiders' need for a prominent pass-rusher is worth the risk of phasing him into an edge-rusher role. Secondly, signing Malcolm Smith and drafting hybrid defensive end/linebacker rookies can fill the void left behind at strong-side linebacker.

The move would also help preserve Justin Tuck’s motor as a pass-rusher while alleviating the pressure on Mario Edwards Jr. to be a solid pass-rusher in his rookie season.

At 265 pounds, Mack will be able to battle offensive tackles consistently and maintain his quickness off the edge to keep opposing quarterbacks' heads on a swivel.

Focus on Developing Hybrid Rookies

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The obvious domino effect to moving Mack to DE, would be filling the space at outside linebacker. Smith would be a likely candidate to start initially. The former Super Bowl MVP has a familiarity with defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., who has a great track record for developing linebackers. Players like K.J. Wright, Bruce Irvin and Bobby Wagner have all flourished under Norton’s guidance.

With all due respect to Smith, the Raiders drafted two potentially special players in Max Valles and Neiron Ball. Valles showed flashes at Virginia in his senior year as the school’s leading pass-rusher with nine sacks. He has a proven track record of wrecking QBs off the edge. He also has the athleticism and coverage skills to play as an OLB when Mack lines up at the line of scrimmage.

Ball is a less proven commodity and more so a project. At 6’3”, 235 pounds, he fits the mold of a linebacker. He showed very little pass-rushing ability but plays well in man-to-man coverage, per NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein. Ball’s skill set slightly differs from Valles', but he’s worth a look in 3-4 schemes when an extra linebacker is needed to cover an extra receiver or blow up a run in the backfield.

Create an Open Competition at Right Tackle

The biggest hole in the Raiders offense is the right side of the offensive line, starting with the right tackle. Edge-rushers could have a field day if the Raiders don’t address the position. As I previously mentioned, Austin Howard has performed poorly at tackle and guard between his stints with the New York Jets and Raiders.

The best solution would be opening competition at the position. Yes, Menelik Watson gets another opportunity to prove he’s worth a second-round pick. And why not? Fellow 2013 draft pick D.J. Hayden will have a great opportunity to validate himself in his third season. Watson has been the second-round disappointment out of Florida State whom Raiders fans hope Edwards won’t become in his early years.

Watson has struggled starting only 12 games in two seasons, but Howard hasn’t shown to be a better option. Offensive line coach Mike Tice should keep his options open at the position and even consider rookie Anthony Morris out of Tennessee State. The 6’7”, 315-pound offensive lineman had an impressive workout at his pro day, and based on the footage above, he's worth a look at a weak position.

Identify Starting Right Guard

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According to head coach Jack Del Rio, rookie Jon Feliciano is expected to win the starting spot over Khalif Barnes, per Cal Setar of hngn.com.

Feliciano was a surprising fourth-round pick for the Raiders, but Tice liked what he saw from the Miami (Florida) offensive lineman. In comparison to Barnes' performance last season, it can’t get much worse at right tackle. This is a two-man competition that Feliciano should win.

It seems as though Feliciano was almost handpicked by Tice, and general manager Reggie McKenzie simply gave the nod. I viewed Feliciano as a reach for a fourth-round pick who is still two years away from developing into a starter. However, if Del Rio and Tice have their way, we’ll find out fairly quickly how good the offensive lineman can be starting Week 1 of the upcoming season.

Defining Roy Helu’s Role

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It’s rare that a third-string running back should be considered a priority. In this case, Roy Helu’s role could be crucial to elevating the Raiders offense to the cream of the crop.

Helu’s role with the Raiders could compare to Shane Vereen’s role with the New England Patriots for the past three seasons. Initially, it seems insignificant. Nonetheless, when the rushing attack falters, there’s no better way to get a sluggish offense going than a short passing game to loosen the opposing defense.

Helu recorded 42 catches for 477 receiving yards and two touchdowns compared to Vereen’s 52 catches for 447 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Their skill sets are comparable. The Raiders have to find a way to get Helu the ball on third down when the distance is too far to ram Trent Richardson up the gut.

Helu’s ability to catch passes with sure hands can serve as another feature to the Raiders offense that defensive coordinators are forced to defend with a linebacker spread out in coverage. Drawing the linebacker away from the box could open running lanes or create space for rookie tight end Clive Walford in short-passing situations.

ESPN Insider Field Yates gives insight on how Vereen made the Patriots offense tough to defend even without Rob Gronkowski:

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Among the players worth closely monitoring is running back Shane Vereen, a third-year pro who has natural talent as a receiver. Like Hernandez, he has the ability be used in various alignments around the formation, opening the door to the Patriots using him as a pre-snap motion player.

He might leapfrog from the backfield to a flexed out alignment to a wide receiver alignment in three successive plays. He was successfully used as a split wide receiver on occasion in 2012, taking advantage of man coverage against linebackers (a Thanksgiving night performance against the Jets was the pinnacle of his season). The Patriots have long excelled at dictating matchups, something they can explore further with Vereen this season.

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It’s a copycat league, and who better to copy from than the Patriots? Minus all the cheating. Based on the design of New England’s offense, Vereen was a matchup nightmare, a capacity Helu could fulfill for the Raiders going forward. 

What other priorities should the Raiders focus on during the offseason? Tweet your thoughts to Maurice's Twitter.

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