Oakland Raiders have toughest strength of schedule in 2019
By Erik Lambert
The Oakland Raiders are doing everything they can to make what is their final season in Oakland as memorable as possible. Is a winning season too much?
They’ve certainly been spending a crazy amount of money to help make that happen. They’ve also secured three picks in the 1st round of the upcoming NFL draft. So their chances are good that they’ll have significantly upgraded the roster across the board. This combined with the roster crisis the defending AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs are going through leads one to think they have a good chance right?
Such things are rarely that simple in the NFL. With so much focus having been on free agency and the upcoming draft, people haven’t taken the time to truly digest what’s to come this season. Namely the entire depth of the Raiders’ 2019 slate of games. According to NFL.com, they have the toughest strength of schedule in the entire league at a .539.
Not only do they have nine games against opponents who were .500 or better in 2018, but they also lose one of their home games during a trip to London where they’ll play the Chicago Bears.
Matters could be made worse for Raiders based on other teams
It may not end there either. A number of other opponents on their schedule have done some really good work thus far this offseason. The New York Jets added Le’Veon Bell and Kelechi Osemele to their offense along with C.J. Mosley to their defense. They also hold the #3 overall pick. The Green Bay Packers still have Aaron Rodgers and just spent a ton of money to upgrade their defense with the likes of Preston Smith, Za’Darius Smith, and Adrian Amos.
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Don’t forget the Jacksonville Jaguars either. For all their struggles in 2018, they still have a top defense and now have a far more credible quarterback in Nick Foles who is a perfect 2-0 in his career against Oakland. Suffice to say it’s not hard to understand why Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock have been so aggressive to improve the roster this year. Unless they do, it could end up turning into an even uglier season than last year.
As everybody knows though, nothing is set in stone with an NFL schedule. There is always a surprise or two waiting to happen. Whether it’s a positive one for the Raiders remains to be seen.