Oakland Raiders: Patience Is Key During Necessary Rebuild

Heading into its second full offseason, the Raiders’ new regime led by general manager Reggie McKenzie and head coach Dennis Allen will be expected to start showing results, and soon. 

While the NFL is certainly a “What have you done for me lately?” kind of league, patience is the virtue for the Raiders and most certainly their dedicated fanbase. 

The situation Reggie McKenzie inherited when taking over as GM of the Raiders was a borderline disaster. Of course, the team had some talent and still does, but there’s much more to it than that. 

McKenzie came into a situation that we could liken to that of the NY Jets GM job, which some, including NFL insider Jay Glazer, reported that the Jets have had trouble finding a candidate for. 

Many underestimate the stranglehold that a poor salary cap situation can have on a general manager’s ability to improve the team.

Many will undoubtedly argue that former Raiders owner Al Davis always made it work and that the cap can easily be manipulated. Yet at the same time, it is that idea of “making it work” and pushing money into future years that put the team in the situation it was in.

Like any other financial cover-up, you may be able to keep putting off the money, but eventually it will catch up to you. 



Caught up to the Raiders it did, and McKenzie started by cutting players with big salaries like Stanford Routt and Kamerion Wimbley. As we know, the team would take the immediate cap hits for both at the same time. 

In this, McKenzie and the Raiders had very little if any choice. With the future of the organization in mind, the salary cap situation had to be fixed immediately and this was how it needed to be done.

Fast-forward to the draft, where, courtesy of the Carson Palmer trade, the 2011 draft-day deal to acquire Joseph Barksdale and Taiwan...

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