Projecting Oakland Raiders’ Most Heated Roster Battles This Offseason

Heading into 2014 after a busy offseason, the Oakland Raiders roster has a completely different look to it overall. 

General manager Reggie McKenzie and his staff led the team to a largely successful free-agency period, followed by a solid draft that just may have landed them several instant-impact players as well. 

With so many new faces, competition for starting roles as well as roster spots will be held throughout training camp and the preseason, ideally bringing out the best in all involved. 

The most heated battles should come at several positions the Raiders staff made a priority to improve throughout this offseason.

 

Offensive Line



The offensive line represents one of several position groups the Raiders were able to significantly upgrade the talent level at throughout this offseason.

Now, the unit has an impressive mix of veterans and younger players to compete for the starting positions across the board. 

What’s unique about this group, and likely by design of the Raiders staff, is the versatility of the players. As a result, this competition throughout training camp will involve simply finding the best five to get on the field. 

Likely starters from left to right include Donald Penn, Gabe Jackson, Stefen Wisniewski, Austin Howard and Menelik Watson.

However, Khalif Barnes, Kevin Boothe, Tony Bergstrom and Matt McCants should all still compete as well, providing depth at the very least for several different positions. 

Clearly, the Raiders’ focus for the offensive front has been to find players who fit the power-blocking scheme the offense is built around.

This unit has been relatively inconsistent for the Silver and Black for several seasons now, but like many other areas of the roster, it should be significantly better in 2014.

 
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders