The 2018 Oakland Raiders struggled mightily on both sides of the ball, as they failed to pay consistent football for most of the year. On defense, the Raiders had their deficiencies on all three levels of the defense, but one area in particular showed incredible growth over the 16-game season.
Coming into the season, there were plenty of question marks in the secondary, as the team’s previous two first round picks had yet to find their stride at the NFL level. Karl Joseph (2016) and Gareon Conley (2017) were going into big years, and there was a real chance new head coach Jon Gruden would move on from them if they did not step up.