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Jon Gruden does not care about winning in 2018. He did not particularly invest in 2019 either. And even if it sucks for Oakland, it could work for Las Vegas.
The veteran head coach has been sidelined with only one goal in mind; the Raiders are doing well for their planned relocation to Las Vegas in 2020. With an unprecedented 100-year, 10-year contract, he has plenty of track to get there – and enough time to do confidence in the process.
On Monday, Gruden orchestrated his last breathtaking start in Raider's lineup. Amari Cooper, a 24-year-old twice-twice Pro Bowler, was sent to the Cowboys in 2019 in exchange for selecting the first round of Dallas in 2019. Previously, it was one of the best-of a blockbuster. this pushed All-Pro pass racer Khalil Mack to the door in exchange for a pair of first-round picks among the Bears.
These two offerings were launched in the wake of releases for players such as Michael Crabtree, Marquette King, David Amerson and Obi Melifonwu. And thanks in part to the holes they left behind, Oakland had to fight to register a 1-5 record to start 2018. The Raiders' only victory was won in overtime at Cleveland in a match that Gruden did not have. probably did not deserve. to win.
But the victories are secondary to the choices of first choice and the growing chasm of the salary cap space that the club is building for its future. Gruden is perfectly right to sacrifice for several years a decent list in order to build a competitor who can sell tickets once the team has landed in the Nevada desert. It's a risky strategy – but damn it, it worked for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Gruden Raiders set up tank work Sam Hinkie can appreciate
Gruden looked at the 2018 version of the Raiders and found them closer to the nadir than the franchise's peak after 2002 in 2016, even with many of the same players this season with 12 wins. That included Derek Carr, the MVP's candidate whose broken leg had shattered the team's aspirations for the Super Bowl. Behind him was a 2016 star team; Oakland had the league's defensive player of the year with scorer Mack, two 1,000-yard receivers at Cooper and Crabtree, and an all-pro bettor at King.
As the eighth week approaches, Gruden's selection means that only Carr remains, and he is far removed from the 28: 6 ratio hit by interception of his interception year. But this success of 2016 was always going to be out of reach, even without the cuts and transactions of Gruden, because of the aging composition and the inability of the team to recruit new stars. One of the league's most dangerous liners, with Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard, had been reduced to an ineffective, Marshawn Lynch, aged and now injured, and Doug Martin.
The best tackler of 2016, Malcolm Smith, is now a 49er. Pro Bowler Reggie Nelson is 35 years old. Bruce Irvin will soon be 31 years old.
This left Oakland with a very clear ceiling. The extension of Mack and Cooper would have been considered a "threat to the playoffs," but it would not have allowed the Raiders to be a true contender thanks to a recent dreadful editorial history and dubious decisions in as an independent agent. Gruden took the opportunity to rebuild from scratch and shape the future Vegas Raiders in his image.
Like Hinkie did it with the 76ers of the NBA.
Hinkie, managing director of Philadelphia from 2013 to 2016, dismantled an alignment that, at best, could sneak into the playoffs without making any noise. He traded players such as All-Star leader Jrue Holiday, former rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams, and novice players / contributors like Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner. In return, he won a litany of choice on the first and second rounds in hopes of attracting young superstars to a team that had not reached the finals of the conference since 2001.
This led to a few difficult years as a young, veteran talented team that was one of the worst records in the league, but this fight also created an extremely interesting position. Hinkie's tanks brought together stars like Joel Embiid, Dario Saric and Ben Simmons. His dedication to accumulating gross assets at the expense of confirmed players gave the Sixers the freedom to maneuver and miss hopes such as the top three picks, Markelle Fultz and Jahlil Okafor.
It worked. The 2017-18 76ers were the first team in the franchise to have more than 50 wins since 2001. They currently have the sixth best chance of winning the NBA 2019 title. And that's the kind of turnaround on which Gruden is playing his reputation . The good news is that he will have plenty of time to do it.
Unlike Hinkie, Gruden is here for the long haul
The fatal flaw in Hinkie's plan lacked the value of his name to stay and see Philadelphia's transformation from bottom to bottom to a competitor. His vision was compromised in 2015 when the Sixers took Jerry Colangelo to town as president of the club's basketball operations and Hinkie finally resigned in the spring of 2016. He is currently working with the Broncos front office as 'analyst.
Gruden will not have this problem. He has signed a $ 100 million, 10-year contract that makes him as indelible as ever the head coach. Its Executive Director, Reggie McKenzie, has been a voluntary buffer to any movement that he has done. And his previous career as Oakland's head coach, which earned him 38 wins in four seasons, gives him a little more credibility and goodwill towards the Raider's followers.
That's why he had the opportunity to clear the bridge to build an exciting roster of players before the team moved to Las Vegas. Gruden's decision to swap two young bona fide stars to secure the choices that may well be young stars in good faith seems contradictory, but it is logical from a financial point of view. Mack and Cooper are expected to earn more than $ 36 million in 2019 alone for their new teams. In their place, the Raiders will pay the choices they have received on the market, $ 5.4 million from the two recruits they will select next spring.
And these recruits are the wind that can push the next wave of team greatness, both on the field and on the pay sheet. A bad Raiders team is targeting the first pick in this year's draft; all teams except the Giants, the 49ers and the Cardinals have more wins than they do. Their pick of the Bears in 2019 is currently in the No. 17 pick. The pick they've received from Dallas for Cooper is currently number 10 – though it's becoming less useful if the new Cowboys double may be the good deal for NFC East Jerry Jones thinks he can do it.
It is rare to have three first round picks in a single project. To have three in the top 20 choices is virtually unknown. And with the right choices, Gruden will have the opportunity to select future stars who announce the return of his franchise to greatness. These 2019 picks will have a full season to prove their worth before the team's planned move to the Las Vegas stadium. And when the novelty of building an NFL team in Paradise, Nevada, it is the players that will be relied upon to sell tickets and make the latest re-installation of the Raiders look like an intelligent idea.
But Oakland's history with his first-round picks means that Gruden must reverse the bad luck of the Raiders.
One of the reasons Mack and Cooper took part in the team's discount sale is Oakland's inability to create a support team around them. This is indicative of the fact that many of the best Raiders players in 2018 – Jordy Nelson, Marshawn Lynch, Bruce Irvin and Tahir Whitehead – are in first place – are not local players.
A quick glance at the team's day one and two selections shows why the club depends so much on imported players who are approaching or already 30 years old. Oakland won the gold medal with Mack and Carr in 2014.
In 2015, Cooper, but also Mario Edwards and Clive Walford, two disappointing performers who were cut by Gruden in 2018.
The year 2016 was marked by the arrival of Karl Joseph (zero beginning in 2018, currently in the trading block), Jihad Ward (cut) and Shilique Calhoun (zero early career).
The jury is still not in power in 2017, although the second-round Melifonwu choice was considered so light that it allowed for waivers before returning to the club's reserve list of casualties.
It is a sinister resume, but none of these choices fell under Gruden's notice. After all, his four years at the Oakland Bar brought Charles Woodson and … uh, Sebastian Janikowski? Shane Lechler? Roderick Coleman?
So yes, these choices might not work. Gruden spent four years as the team's head coach. During this term, the first players who followed Woodson were:
Were these choices influenced by a more and more crispy Al Davis? Almost certainly. However, they do not really bode well for Gruden, whose career with the Buccaneers is not really impressive.
If these choices of 2019 and 2020 do not turn into stars, they will be at least cheap. The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to have a large number of boats in 2019 and beyond, including more than $ 100 million for their move to the desert in 2020. Add to that a brand-new facility, an endearing coach, high level, and a tailor-made destination to attract free agents, and you have another viable path to align yourself within a championship.
And this is not even the final form of the 2018 Raiders
Gruden says he's been trading. He also denies being in the middle of a tank.
"We do not negotiate anyone else", Gruden told Chris Mortenson of ESPN after the agreement of Cooper. "We are trying to stay competitive and find a way to participate in this next match (in the eighth week against the Colts)."
But he also said he did not know anything about reports that the club would have bought Cooper eight days before releasing him from Oakland. And the fact that he suggests that his 1-5 team is currently "competitive" seems another indication that we should not take his quotes for cash. The Raiders still have expensive offers to pay for future free-agent players like Bruce Irvin and Donald Penn, and it could be a great addition to a budding competitor before the October 30 trading deadline.
Gruden's free agent record in 2018 suggests it was the plan forever. After firing players such as Amerson and Crabtree, he signed a litany of veteran players under short-term, mostly low-cost deals, which included numerous pay cap opportunities for 2019 and the following years. Even though Mack trading was a surprise – even Gruden still seems to be suffering – the only real shock after Cooper's exit was that the Cowboys were ready to part with a first-round pick.
And that's exactly the first year of the re-Gruden era in Oakland; a process. The veteran head coach has destroyed a good one in hopes of achieving something great. He now has the assets to succeed. It will be enough for him to prove that he is a better judge for young hopefuls than at his first meeting with the Raiders in order to turn his potential into a product for which Las Vegas will fall in love.
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