OAKLAND — Jon Gruden has admitted it matter-of-factly on numerous occasions: These Raiders are nowhere near contenders.
Gruden sold all those veterans he signed this offseason on the notion his team could win now while they still had something left in the tank. Jordy Nelson, Rashaan Melvin, Tahir Whitehead, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Doug Martin, Frostee Rucker. Now? If any of those guys had options besides the Raiders, they have to be questioning whether they made the right choice.
Nobody in the Raiders locker room will publicly admit they’ve checked out, but captain Bruce Irvin is talking about making babies after big losses in London and Melvin is publicly venting his frustrations with his head coach on Twitter (he was inactive for the first time this season against the Colts).