ALAMEDA -- Derek Carr already has been through a Raiders rebuild. The quarterback was a major part of a “reconstruction” phase in 2014, when the cupboard was bare following a “deconstruction” phase that got the Raiders right with the salary cap.
Fancy names helped ease the process, making it seem like the Raiders always were moving forward. Things escalated quickly after Carr and Khalil Mack were drafted in 2014, and Amari Cooper came aboard the following year. The Raiders went from 3-13 to 7-9 to 12-4 in 2016, a rapid rise that won Reggie McKenzie Executive of the Year honors and created promise that the team had opened a playoff contention window.
That didn’t last long. Coach Jack Del Rio was fired after a disappointing 6-10 season, and his replacement, Jon Gruden, decided the pieces in place weren’t to his liking. He believes the Raiders have to start over, virtually from scratch.
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They’re clearing the deck yet again, collecting draft capital to restock an deficient roster. The Raiders could make more deals before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
Some veterans working on short-term contracts are frustrated participating in a rebuild they won’t see through. The few mainstays, however, aren’t thrilled to be going through this process twice in a short span.
“For me, being in my fifth year, it’s hard, if I’m being honest,” Carr said. “Just going out there, I feel like we’ve had to do this a couple of times in my early five years. That part is hard. At the same time, it doesn’t change my mindset, you guys know that. Good things, bad things, it doesn’t change who I am and how I work. I still have a job to do.
“It’s going to be harder without Coop, it’s going to be harder without Khalil, we knew that. It’s not going to make it easier, especially for us, for a quarterback and things like that. But that’s no excuse. We need to go perform and we need to go win games, and that’s my mindset.”
NFL
This isn’t a place McKenzie expected to be so soon after reaching the playoffs. The Raiders general manager hit a rough patch in terms of productive picks, and Gruden didn’t like many members of the young foundation built through amateur selection.
Gruden wasted no time clearing the deck, cutting or trading six players McKenzie drafted in the first three rounds, including every second-rounder from 2015 on. Karl Jopseh and Gareon Conley, first-round picks from 2016 and ’17, respectively, are the subject of trade rumors heading toward the deadline. Letting so many prominent, albeit relatively unproductive, draft picks is a sign the Raiders are starting over.
“It’s disappointing,” McKenzie said. “It started to get that way last year, the way it started to nosedive. The NFL brings change. The system will not allow you to keep them all, but we have to understand that coaching plays a part from the standpoint of systems. We’re talking about a 12-4 team that made a couple schematic changes, and we didn’t win last year. There’s another scheme this year. There’s a lot of change around here.
"Teams that do well consistently don’t have a lot of change. That’s partly on me. We’ve had too many coaching changes since I’ve been here, as far as I’m concerned.”
Gruden had positive things to say about the Raiders’ foundation shortly after being hired, but his opinion clearly changed once he got his hands on the assets this spring. He has the security required to go radical with his reconstruction, with talent unusual to a team this bad Gruden has been able to parlay into premium draft picks.
“We’re doing everything we can to win games and certainly build this football team,” Gruden said. “Not everybody, I’m sure, understands what is going on. I just want to say those two things: We’re doing everything we can for the Raiders, for the team today and the team of the future. Sometimes it’s a tough job.”