The Oakland Raiders are coming into the 2015 free agency period with a ton of salary cap space and that could mean some big free agent targets, as names like Ndamukong Suh, Randall Cobb, Julius Thomas, Greg Hardy, Frank Gore, Demaryius Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Cecil Shorts, Mark Ingram and Byron Maxwell are on the market.
The Raiders were a bad team once again in 2014, but they are expecting improvements next year after bringing in Jack Del Rio to take over as head coach. The team had two straight 4-12 seasons under Dennis Allen and they fired him in the middle of last season, which ended up as a 3-13 campaign. To catch up with the Broncos, Chiefs and Chargers in the division, the Raiders need to work on adding young talent in the draft while signing players in free agency.
Last year the team led the league in available cap space coming into the offseason, but Reggie McKenzie smartly did not splurge, instead adding some solid players like Justin Tuck, LaMarr Woodley and James Jones. While all his deals did not work out, it left the team enough cap space into this winter to spend big and that was a wise move, as this year's class of players I way deeper and more talented than last years. On top of that, the Raiders have done a good job recently, drafting players like Derek Carr, Latavius Murray, Khalil Mack and Sio Moore than have all shown great potential.
Now McKenzie has the chance to spend big in free agency and with the team needing playmakers on both sides of the ball, all options are open. Ndamukong Suh is likely to be a target, as the Raiders need an identity on defense and he surely would give that to them. Suh is considered to be the best run stopping DT in the league and with him asking for up to $50 million guaranteed, the Raiders are one of the teams in the league that can compete due to their cap space.
The offensive side of the ball will likely be a main focus, as Derek Carr has shown that he can be a starting quarterback and now needs playmakers. The Raiders offense ranked in the bottom half of the league last season and with names like Gore, Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin and Randall Cobb on the market, the Raiders likely will add least one of those players. Gore is likely to leave the Niners as a free agent, while Cobb and Maclin could get priced out of their current teams.
Another name to watch that is not available yet but likely will be is Adrian Peterson. The Vikings have expressed interest in keeping Peterson, but he has a high cap number and could be let go. Peterson has the highest cap number of any running back in the NFL next season and after he missed all of this year, the Vikings could be looking for him to take a pay cut. The Raiders were one of the worst rushing teams in the league last year and adding someone like Peterson or Frank Gore could be huge if they let Darren McFadden leave in free agency.
