With The First Pick
Fansided

Oakland Raiders Now Made in Al Davis’ Image

By Carl Cockerham

Nov 15, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Members of the Armed Forces light a torch in honor of Al Davis before the start of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Members of the Armed Forces light a torch in honor of Al Davis before the start of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 15, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Members of the Armed Forces light a torch in honor of Al Davis before the start of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Members of the Armed Forces light a torch in honor of Al Davis before the start of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /

The Oakland Raiders are back! 

Yes, I do mean they’re going to win this year, but I’m also talking about the identity of the team. The teams that stay in contention usually do so because of they maintained their identity. They have their blue-print for how they go about building a winning team and follow it every year.

That Raiders actually used to do that back in the day and were once the winningest organization in sports. But then, legendary owner Al Davis lost his way, drafting bad players, leaving no identity. Then he dies and his son, Mark Davis, hires former Raider Reggie McKenzie as the GM.

And he stumbled out of he gate, hiring a coach that believes in zone blocking and zone defenses. That’s not the identity of Raider football so with the spirit of Davis in the building, it didn’t work. So McKenzie stopped looking for the types of players former head coach Dennis Allen was looking for.

He went back to what he learned under former Raiders GM Ron Wolf and eventually fired Allen. He then hired former NFL player and life-time Raiders fan Jack Del Rio. And now, they have a team that looks like it’s built in the image of Davis (Al) himself.

Turn the page to see how it’s built!

Next: Offensive Line

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