One area of need was the running back position. The Raiders entered the offseason with very few options in their backfield. Those options entailed DeAndre Washington and Chris Warren III. Neither of the running backs having much of a consistent workload in the NFL.
During the mid stages of free agency, Gruden brought aboard Isaiah Crowell, along with bringing back their change of pace back, Jalen Richard. Two more quality options for Derek Carr to hand the ball off, but they still lacked a three down back on their roster.