With a new regime in town, and a team that seems to be on the cusp of contending, the Las Vegas Raiders have a big offseason in front of them. A new head coach and GM seems to be a common occurrence at this point for the Raiders, and once again the direction of the franchise is in new hands. It will be important for the new brass to win over the fanbase. Here are two things Tom Telesco and Antonio Pierce can do that will do just that.
Finding a Quarterback
With a quarterback room spearheaded by O’Connell and Jimmy Garoppolo, it’s decently clear that there is not a franchise quarterback on the roster. Aidan O’Connell impressed at times during his stint as a starter this year. He did a good job remaining composed and delivered some big wins.
With that said, he has some pretty big steps to make to become a full-time starting quarterback in the league.
One avenue to fix this would be the NFL draft, but with the 13th selection, they’ll likely need to trade up to get one of the better guys. Doing that is a bit risky, and if it doesn’t work out, the regime will have an uphill battle from there. Telesco could decide to trade for a quarterback, as the trade market will have some interesting names on it this spring. At the end of the day, this will be the biggest decision in Telesco and Pierce’s tenures.
Make a Splash In Free Agency
Throughout the past two decades, the Raiders have been consistently bad at evaluating free agents, or the trade market. Most blockbuster moves they’ve made have not worked out. But recently, that tide seems to have been turning.
One of the rare good moves that the former regime of Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels made was to trade for Davante Adams. They did this at the very beginning of their tenure, and at the time, they had essentially won over the fanbase. While that didn’t last, the move itself worked out incredibly well, and the fanbase gave them a ton of support. If Telesco and Pierce can make a big move, they’ll prove to the fanbase that the team is ready to contend.
The Near Future
Finally, as of now, there is a decent amount of support for these two already in the fanbase. With how well the team played to end the season, there’s a large section of the fanbase that already holds Pierce himself in high regard. If Telesco and Pierce can do these two things successfully, they should be able to win over the fanbase.
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