“Just win baby” used to carry so much bravado for Raider Nation, but now-a-days it just sounds like a fan’s plea for a miracle. For the past couple years, the Oakland Raiders franchise has been on a free fall sucked into the abyss of a black hole. Although this past season was a drag for the Silver and Black, a silver lining remained in rookie quarterback, Derek Carr. Carr provided enough flash to give the Raiders hope they might have something to look forward to next season.

Unlike other off-seasons, the Raiders vacancy wasn’t treated like the worst job in sports, finally deviating from former protocol and hiring a coach with experience to fill their vacancy. Hiring former NFL linebacker and Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, Jack Del Rio; Oakland gets a man who took the Jaguars to the playoffs twice during his tenure and joins Raider Nation after a successful run as defensive coordinator for the division champion Denver Broncos. Coach Del Rio’s defensive background is a perfect fit for a young team with some quality talent, more so on the defense side of the football than on offense.

Armed with a boatload of cap space and a bounty of draft picks, this could be the off-season the Raiders make a big leap with a string of strong acquisitions.

Here’s a look back at the 2014 season and their outlook moving forward.

What Went Right

It was a tough season for the Oakland Raiders, but there were a few bright spots among the losses. For all of the struggles the team endured, the Raiders have some hope for next season because of the encouraging play of a couple young players. Raider Nation should be excited about what they saw from wide receiver Andre Holmes this past season. He improved in his second season with the team, leading Oakland in receiving yards and flashing potential as a deep threat worth investing time into. Same could be said for running back Latavius Murray, who by all accounts should have been fed the rock much sooner in the season, rushing for 274 of his 424 yards in their wins towards the end of the season. When provided his opportunity, Murray took advantage of run blocking in a way that the elder statesmen, Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden, couldn’t. Blessed with breakaway speed, Murray’s ceiling needs to be explored.

On defense, the unit flashed potential with the brightest spots shining in the linebacking core. Second-year weak-side linebacker Sio Moore continued his ascension. Despite missing five games, Moore finished 3^rd on the team in tackles with 90 total. On the strong side, prized rookie Khalil Mack proved to be the player they hoped for when they drafted him. While he needs to get better in pass coverage, Mack is excellent in all other facets of the game proving worth the high draft pick and providing a building block for the defense. Rookie nose tackle Justin Ellis also had a nice contribution, really coming on strong towards the end of the season and giving the Raiders an anchor in the trenches to build their front four around.

The most important bright spot on the team though, is rookie quarterback Derek Carr. While he only mustered three wins this season, Carr came in as a second-round pick and started, showing an immense amount of maturity and level of refinery to his skills throwing for nine more touchdowns than interceptions. As a rookie, Carr showed more than enough with his high difficulty passes, grit, and poise under pressure to warrant an extended look and opportunity to claim the Raiders as his team.

What Went Wrong

Not too much went right for Oakland in the wins and losses department, as they started the season of 0-10, leading to the dismissal of head coach Dennis Allen after just four of those losses. In came interim head coach Tony Sparano, who to his credit could always get the team to play hard. That said, regardless of how hard the Raiders played and they played teams tough most weekends, they clearly were outmatched talent-wise. On defense, despite two intriguing young prospects in the linebacking core and one on the defensive line, the rest of the defense is old or replaceable. When your free safety leads your team in tackles, it means offenses got to the last line of defense too often. While some are serviceable, the Raiders no doubt need to make improvements on a defensive line that produced an anemic pass rush boasting Justin Tuck as their leading sacker with just five sacks. Patching up a leaky 22^nd ranked run defense should also be a focus of the Raiders.

The same could be said for their offensive line that paved the way for a rushing offense that was last in the league, averaging less than 80 yards per game. While the Raiders offensive line was decent in pass pro, upgrades are needed to generate a better push up front. Prized offensive free agent wide receiver James Jones was supposed to give the Raiders a bonafide lead receiver, but instead he proved to be a serviceable complimentary receiver. This served the Raiders little since the team doesn’t have a premier receiver for him to compliment. This lack of consistency and production on the outside severely hamstrung their passing game that ranked 26^th in the league and only featured one 300 yard passing day by their quarterbacks who took a snap from center.

Impending Free Agents

Unrestricted:

Larry Asante, safety

David Ausberry, tight end

Tarell Brown, cornerback

Vincent Brown, wide receiver

Darren McFadden, running back

Denarius Moore, wide receiver

Carlos Rogers, cornerback

Pat Sims, defensive tackle

C.J. Wilson, defensive tackle

Stefen Wisniewski, center

Charles Woodson, safety

Restricted:

Chimdi Chekwa, cornerback

Andre Holmes, wide receiver

Marquette King, punter

Brandian Ross, safety

Kory Sheets, running back

Rod Streater, wide receiver

Veteran safety Charles Woodson, has already been resigned and this was a prudent move by new head coach Jack Del Rio to green light. Retaining a veteran presence who understands a winning culture and will aid coach Del Rio in changing the existing losing culture was worth the investment. Center Stefan Wisniewski should be a priority to retain and with ample salary cap space, they should be able to do so quite easily. Once upon a time wide receiver Denarius Moore was viewed as the future of the Raiders passing game, expected to develop into a Mike Wallace type deep threat and lead receiver. Unfortunately injuries kept him from developing into that type of player even though the ability is there. With similar young players in restricted free agents Andre Holmes and Rod Streater, who are deep threats themselves and offer more in size, it’s likely the Raiders let him depart while pursuing upgrades and retaining their RFA’s for further development. At corner, Tarell Brown and Carlos Rodgers are decent stop gap options and if they can be retained at a reasonable price point then they should return. Everyone else hitting the free agency market are roster fillers and special teams contributors, they should all be minimal resignings or space creators for new blood with their departures.

Needs Analysis

Oakland has to face the fact they need to spend some money this offseason to infuse some above average talent into the roster to speed up the rebuilding process and compliment their draft strategy. While they can try to continue to build through the draft, the Raiders badly need to get better in their starting line up. Acquiring top shelf talent in the passing game to aid in Derek Carr’s development has to be a focal point for them this off-season. A tight end that can command the middle of the field would be a great start and finding a lead receiver who can push the rest of their players on the roster into complimentary roles would be key.

While Murray showed flashes in the backfield towards the end of the year, the Raiders will need to find a back to compliment him either as the lead back or as one to share the load. On defense, Oakland needs to boost their pedestrian pass rush and finding a defensive end with pass rush excellence should be a main priority. As well as finding a defensive tackle that can take on double teams and free up linebackers to plug holes in the run game. Speaking of linebackers, while Raider Nation boasts two emerging players on the outside in Moore and Mack, the Raiders can really stand to upgrade considerably at middle linebacker over an average Miles Burris, this move that could really amplify the play of the front seven and beef up the depth of the team.

Overview

Overall, the Raiders have a considerable amount of work ahead of them to catch up and compete with the other three teams in the division that finished this past season with winning records. Oakland does seem to be finally headed in the right direction. With a potential QB of the future in tow and a new head coach who feels like the proper fit, this is a pivotal off-season for Raider Nation. If they can hit on some key free agent acquisitions at core positions of need like WR, TE, DL, and DB; they could take a step forward, but that’s easier said than done and a reason why it stands to be seen how it all plays out. With an ample amount of cap space and armed with two first round draft picks, the Raiders have a chance to make up some serious ground on the rest of the division; if not, owner Mark Davis is going to send general manager Reggie Mckenzie packing.