Are the Raiders outmaneuvering the Broncos this offseason?

The Las Vegas Raiders are just like the Denver Broncos in the fact that both teams are trying to play “catch up” in the division to the Kansas City Chiefs. Add in the Los Angeles Chargers, as well, and you can see how tough the AFC West could be in 2020 and beyond.

The Super Bowl champion Chiefs are going to be tough to beat this season, and really so long as Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback. The teams within the division need to use the AFC East as a cautionary tale when it comes to dealing with a top-tier quarterback for (what could be) a decade-plus.

With that in mind, this offseason has been filled with moves by teams in the AFC West that specifically are geared towards keeping up with or slowing down the Chiefs.

Have the Raiders outmaneuvered the Broncos this offseason? Let’s take a look.

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Where’s the Beef?

The Broncos need help at the inside linebacker position. With all due respect to rookie Justin Strnad, a fifth-round pick of the Broncos, they did nothing to upgrade that position this offseason. One could easily make the argument that they should’ve done what the Raiders did in free agency. In fact, both of the veteran linebackers signed by the Raiders early in free agency were potential targets for the Broncos.

The Raiders made a splash when they signed Cory Littleton, formerly of the Rams. They also picked up a former disciple of Vic Fangio when they signed inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski (a day previous to Littleton) in free agency.

Littleton is a star linebacker who can make an instant impact for the Raiders. That’s why they gave him a three-year, $36 million deal with $22 million in guarantees. He is a three-down linebacker with the speed to play from sideline-to-sideline. Littleton had a whopping 26 passes defensed in 2019, easily the best mark for any linebacker in the league.

Kwiatkoski played under Fangio with the Bears and had an up-and-down (then back up) career in Chicago. A fourth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft out of West Virginia, Kwiatkoski was a tough player who battled through some injuries and had to play special teams when he wasn’t starting. He set career-high marks in starts (8), pass deflections (4), sacks (3) and tackles (76) in 2019.

With the need at inside linebacker, it was assumed the Broncos would make a run at either one of these players. Instead, the Raiders get both of them and now have two playmaking linebackers who can tackle and cover – something incredibly important in the AFC West with tight ends like Travis Kelce, Hunter Henry and Noah Fant. It sure would’ve been nice to see just one of these guys wind up with the Broncos.

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Rookie Rivals

I didn’t like the Raiders draft as much as I liked what the Broncos did, but there are a couple of players at specific positions which will be compared this season and beyond. These are players at positions of need for both teams, and who ended up with the better duo is going to be something to monitor in the years to come.

In this historic wide receiver class, the Raiders were the first team to take one off the board at No. 12 overall when they selected Henry Ruggs III out of Alabama. His college teammate, Jerry Jeudy, went off the board to the Broncos just three picks later at No. 15 overall.

Ruggs has a game that is all about speed. He was my No. 3 rated receiver in this draft class because of that speed and ability to turn short passes into long gains. On the other hand, Jeudy was my No. 1 graded receiver because of his hands, play speed and precise route running. I firmly believe the Broncos got the better receiver here, and the one who could have the longer and more fruitful career. Like with any draft class, only time will tell which team got the better playmaker.

Like the Broncos, the Raiders needed a cornerback in the draft but unlike Denver they did not wait to get one. Instead of drafting a corner in the third round like Denver did with Iowa’s Michael Ojemudia, the Raiders used their second first-round pick on Damon Arnette out of Ohio State.

I did not have Arnette graded as a first-round player, but instead thought he could go in the late second or early third round. He graded just slightly better than Ojemudia in my eyes, but their games are completely different. Arnette is known for his speed, hip transition and ability to cover in man-to-man situations. Ojemudia is known as a zone corner with good reaction ability when keeping a play/receiver in front of him. Both are expected to be aggressive tacklers at the pro level. Arnette may be a fine pick for the Raiders, but his skill set might have been an interesting fit under Fangio.

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Goodbye Sweet Prince

On Monday, it was reported that the Raiders signed veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara as a free agent. Just like Kwiatkoski, Amukamara had played under Fangio with the Bears and many – me included – felt like he could be an answer for the Broncos at the cornerback position. Even though this team made moves to add two corners this offseason, they needed to do more in my opinion.

Before free agency, the Broncos traded the Jacksonville Jaguars for veteran corner A.J. Bouye. He will essentially take the place of Chris Harris Jr., but may be better suited as a No. 2 corner rather than a No. 1 at this point. Bouye surrendered a league-high 806 yards in 2019 despite missing two games, according to Sports Info Solutions. In 2018, he gave up only 360 yards in 16 contests.

By comparison, Amukamara (15 games starting) only allowed 445 passing yards in 2019. Amukamra allowed a completion percentage of 52.7 percent, while Bouye allowed 67.1 percent passing to opposing quarterbacks. Bouye may have a bounce-back year and perform like he did in 2018, but that’s not a given. Amukamara had better numbers last year and he was a fantastic fit with Fangio during their time together with the Bears.

Both Bouye and Amukamara may be No. 2 corners at this point in their career, but it would have been nice to have that combination. That would’ve let Bryce Callahan (if healthy) man the slot and it would’ve given perhaps much-needed time to Ojemudia to develop.

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I believe the Broncos will compete with the Chargers for the second spot in the AFC West pecking order. I do believe the Raiders are the fourth-best team in this division for the 2020 season. However, there are a few moves they did that I wish the Broncos would’ve gotten done.

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