The first good look at the Raiders team building

Free agency will provide us with the route Tom Telesco and Antonio Pierce intend for Las Vegas.

Over the previous few weeks, Antonio Pierce and Tom Telesco have both been in front of podiums, microphones, and cameras, among other media outlets. In order to meet NFL rules and team obligations, the general manager and head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, respectively, took this action.

During his media tour, Pierce said, “Ill intent. Violence. Physicality. Pain.” It was the same statement he made after his Raiders defeated the Chiefs on Christmas Day. In the meantime, Telesco appeared cautious, occasionally dropping small coins and projecting an air of being the “new guy.”

Talking will always be plenty, but eventually action will emerge for a passionate fan base. The formal start of the new league year comes on March 13, so here we are. The legal tampering period, however, can begin for NFL teams this coming Monday, two days earlier. At that point, there will be flurry of negotiations between interested teams and free players, and we’ll start to hear rumours about the specifics of a deal. “Official” notification of the signings will be sent out soon after 1 p.m. PST on the 13th. Raider Nation will get a first-hand look at the team Telesco and Pierce have in mind for the Silver & Black from March 11–13.

The Telesco-Pierce vision was partially revealed to us on Friday afternoon when Las Vegas re-signed veteran running back Ameer Abdullah. Prior to Monday’s player-team negotiations, Abdullah is an internal unrestricted free agent who the team pulled back into the fold.

Are there going to be more? Soon, we’ll find out.

At the NFL Combine, Telesco expressed his desire to create a philosophy that the Raiders could adopt and re-sign their own players to. Josh Jacobs, the tailback, is the biggest name on the Las Vegas team’s internal free agent roster. If he hits the open market, he might make a significant payday, and the team’s future depends on what Telesco and Pierce decide to do with No. 8.

Pierce wants his Raiders to have a ferocious, aggressive, and physical style, and Jacobs represents these qualities. But is it still a wise financial decision for an NFL team to pay a running back more than $10 million annually in this day and age? There are currently just five tailbacks making an average salary greater than that amount: Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers ($16.015 million), Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints ($15 million), Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts ($14 million), Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns ($12.2 million), and Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers ($12 million).

Raiders cap space and mindset will change depending on whether Jacobs stays in Silver & Black or leaves. Zamir White, a running back in Las Vegas, is ready, but can the team rely on him to provide strength to Luke Getsy’s offensive scheme? Telesco was candid when discussing the necessity for a stable of backs, and it appears like Las Vegas is operating more like a committee than it is with a single reliable lead running back.

Large Spenders?

It will be interesting to see how involved the Raiders are in the race to spend money on free agents. Under typical conditions, Telesco follows the maxim “build via the draft, supplement via free agency.” But he easily acknowledges that, with Pierce leading the Raiders, this isn’t an ordinary outing.

“There are a few things we need to do to get up and running because there is a complete new regime in place for coaches and general managers. As a result, we might need to use free agency a little more this year than I would want, but that is just a necessary part of the process, according to Telesco.

But he qualified that assertion with some prudence.

“Unfortunately, switching teams as a free agent in football doesn’t have a very high success rate,” he continued. Few of them guys even manage to complete their contracts. You need to use the money carefully and with extreme caution.

Exhibit A of caution may be seen in his final free agent splash as general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, when he signed cornerback J.C. Jackson to a lavish five-year, $82.5 million contract that was quickly abandoned.

Inside Out

Pierce was very clear about how he and Telesco plan to assemble the Raiders:

During a media scrum at the combine, Pierce stated, “We want to build this team inside out, and I would love to get some badass dudes— heavy-handed and physical.”

There will be fallout from the Raiders’ actions and inactions on strengthening the offensive and defensive lines during free agency that will continue into the draft and beyond. And it’s not limited to expensive free agents like Christian Wilkins of the Miami Dolphins and Mike Onwenu of the New England Patriots and Lloyd Cushenberry of the Denver Broncos, or defensive tackles Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs and Christian Wilkins of the Miami Dolphins. It also includes local free agents from Las Vegas, such as Jermaine Eluemunor, Adam Butler, Andre James, and John Jenkins.

Pierce understands the importance of the offensive line, and with James, Eluemunor, and Greg Van Roten being unrestricted free agents, there might be significant changes to that group.

Pierce stated, “To me, I would like to build this team in the trenches. I think Telesco and I see it the same way.” “We can go grab the quarterback and skill players, but what the heck does it matter if no one is blocking for them? I hope we can be completely honest from the start.

“And yeah, I understand that it’s free agency and you never know who might return or leave, but that will be the mentality of whoever we place in those positions, man.”

Pierce’s comment struck the mark. If the offensive line isn’t good enough, what real benefit will paying Jacobs and selecting or signing a quarterback to challenge current starter Aidan O’Connell for the starting job have? The same is true for the defensive line: How is Patrick Graham’s team supposed to play defensive tackle without some elite interior talent?

Answers to these queries will be provided shortly.

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• Raiders quarterback search 2024: The competition

 

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