Oakland Raiders Depth Chart Surprises

Tight End

Last offseason, 2015 third-round pick Clive Walford looked like the star of minicamp and OTAs. But he pulled a hamstring and it lasted into the season so he missed a lot of training camp reps. Therefore, it wasn’t until Week 5 that we had our first real sighting of Walford.

From there, he would go on to look like an up-and-coming star tight end for the Silver and Black. Then comes the 2016 offseason that he missed with a knee injury from an ATV accident. However, he went to training camp ready to roll and his injury hasn’t gotten in the way.

But surprisingly, two weeks into training camp, Lee Smith is No. 1 on the depth chart at tight end. Smith is more of a blocking tight end while No. 3 tight end Mychal Rivera is a pass-cathing tight end. Walford is the do it all tight end and showed last year that he is also a vertical tight end.

Opposing defenses know what’s coming when the other two tight ends are in the game. But Walford can do it all, which makes him even more of a deep threat off play action. I thought Walford earned the position last year so this is the biggest surprise on offense.

Next: Nose Tackle