Retention of a Player: Part of The Raiders' Problem, or a Good Thing?

When doing a little scouting for information, I came across this little article regarding turnover rates for players and the ability to retain players:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/18906/where-every-nfl-team-ranks-in-turnover

It showed the Raiders sitting at 12th overall, with the team keeping 83.1% of their players from last season with the club.

Now some of this is pretty understandable...a team that is drafted and built for the long haul does have the advantage of knowing what sort of player is next to you. Does this guy run a good deep pattern? Does the Tight End make decent catches? Does the Corner know how to blanket a WR streaking downfield?

With time, your players can learn how to contribute.

Say if you're on the offensive line, as Robert Gallery. If he thinks Mario Henderson is going to have problems, he might be able to play to push and help a little. Likewise, if he see a linebacker is going to try and overrun Chris Morris, he might set up to give him a hand and close the gap on that side.

Benefits abound, knowing the same players will be there, over and over. The quarterback, if he's been there (and willing to learn), he should be able to find out how his Wide Receivers operate and function, what works for Chaz Schilens might not work with Darrius Heyward-Bey. Likewise, he should be able to find Zach Miller over the middle, or count on him for protection from the outside.

But, there is a downside to this retention issue.

Sometimes players will latch onto a team and fail to produce. Oakland has some players in their memory that couldn't have left fast enough....or seemed to stick around, as "Al's pets," like John Bowie, Doug Gabriel, or Alvis Whitted.

And oh yes, JaMarcus Russell.

Part of a team's growing and going forward is the ability to learn, to work together, and to function. It only works when benefits can be realized, but a player himself still has to catch the ball, run for the first down, and hang onto the ball.

As it is, Oakland in the last four draft classes, has had over 15 players stay with the club. A little under four players per year, not bad considering anything past the third round is a question on making the club.

As it is, given that 83.1 percent of the club is back for another run, apparently Tom Cable and Al Davis like this current set of players.

Then again, it would be interesting to see how these numbers look after the final cuts are announced before the season truly starts.

Turnover is a natural thing for a football team looking to move forward. If a player is aging, a rookie is pushing for his spot, or injuries are too much, sometimes the change has to happen.

For Oakland, after years of (dare I say it?) rebuilding...maybe the Raiders have found a team they can work with.