Most of the blame for the Las Vegas Raiders' struggles this season was primarily due to inconsistent play from the quarterback position, a lack of quality skill players, and inexperienced coaching.
While the Raiders' quarterbacks and running backs have left much to be desired, they also played the first half of the season behind a makeshift offensive line that constantly made changes before stumbling across a consistent starting five.
Still, while talented, the Raiders' starting offensive linemen undoubtedly had much room for improvement.
Ben Rolfe of Pro Football Network recently ranked each offensive line in the National Football League following Week 18's slate of games. He ranked the Raiders' offensive line as the 22nd-best offensive line in the league at the end of the season.
"The numbers speak for themselves with the Las Vegas Raiders," Rolfe said. "Their pressure rate of 35.8% ranks 20th and is not mitigated by a high time to throw (ninth-quickest). They have particularly struggled against the blitz, with a 46.6% pressure rate (28th), yet they have been a more solid group when just having to handle four or fewer pass rushers (31.6%, 13th).
Rolfe wisely notes that while the Raiders' quarterbacks and running backs struggled to be productive this season, they could partially be attributed to the offensive line's shaky play at the start of the season. The Raiders' offensive line did improve over the second half of the season, but it was too late.
"The run game has been poor, ranking 22nd in RBWR and 21st in RBYBC/rush (0.85)," Rolfe said. "The running backs the offensive line has had to work with haven’t helped, either. Largely, though, the unit struggled to open up holes for the ground game to take advantage of.
"The Raiders have looked a little better over the final month of the season, ranking eighth in the last four weeks. It will be interesting whether they look to improve this group in the offseason or if they believe another year with the same front five will continue the upward trend we saw starting in December."
While the Raiders drafted two competent offensive linemen in last year's draft, they still need additional help along the offensive line. The unit's inconsistency has negatively impacted multiple players and coaches.
