Oakland Raiders Establish Identity in Free Agency

Watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play against the Baltimore Ravens makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. That’s because it’s a hard-hitting game between between two heated rivals playing for respect every time out. Back in the day, that was the Oakland Raiders and the Steelers, the Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs or the Raiders and anyone.

That’s what I miss about the old Raiders as even when they swept the AFC West in 2010, they weren’t physical enough. That’s probably why that team was blown up and of course, things got worse from there. But now, Del Rio, who had physical teams as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, is in charge.

As the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos, he built tough, physical defenses too. He’s bringing that tough, physical brand of Raider football back to Oakland and you can see it in what he did in free agency. Many are critical of he and G.M. Reggie McKenzie’s moves but Del Rio is building a run-the-ball-and-play-defense team and Raiders fans will like the result.

The Raiders will be physical on both sides of the ball and it doesn’t take sexy names to be that. Sure, I would love to have Ndamukong Suh too but we wouldn’t be able to pay quarterback Derek Carr and linebacker Khalil Mack when their contracts are up with what Suh got. And as for the other names the Raiders either had or were linked to, the Raiders actually upgraded from that.

Next: Offensive Line