The Raiders made it to 7-9 this season despite some significant talent deficiencies. It’s just a fact. Excellent rookie play covered some of that up. Resilience did the rest.
The Raiders were, before they ran out of gas near season’s end, far better than the sum of their parts.
And no, that’s not a backhanded compliment. It’s a sign of progress during a multiyear roster rebuild that’s far from complete.
Closing the season with five losses in six weeks exposed fatal flaws and illustrated how much work lies ahead.
Head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock have great tools to upgrade this roster, with $67 million in salary-cap space -- they can easily make more -- and five NFL draft picks in the first three rounds.