PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Raiders have drawn rave reviews for the work they were able to do in bolstering a roster badly in need of upgrades during the early part of free agency this offseason.
Now they have to wait on the only verdict that matters.
While general manager John Spytek made several splashy signings over the last month, his success will only be determined on the field and in the standings.
“Ultimately we had a plan and tried to attack it as aggressively as we could,” he said Monday during the NFL League Meetings at the Arizona Biltmore hotel. “But the guys have got to go play, and we’ve got to make it all come to life. It’s so far beyond just signing the guys.”
Still, Spytek was collecting signatures on contracts like an autograph hound in the first 24 hours of free agency in his second season as a general manager.
He doled out the richest interior lineman contract in NFL history to center Tyler Linderbaum, added a speedy wide receiver in Jalen Nailor and dramatically beefed up the defense with linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker, as well as edge rusher Kwity Paye and trading for nickel corner Taron Johnson.
“We wanted to get younger and obviously we knew we had some position groups on the roster that needed to be strengthened,” Spytek said. “And from that standpoint, I felt like (our staff) did a great job.”
He credited Tom Delaney, David Christoff and Julia Ayres for keeping tabs on the cap space and making sure deals were structured properly to best maximize cap space and remain flexible in the future.
“It’s more complicated than most people realize, sometimes even more than I’m qualified to do, so I rely on them a lot for that,” Spytek added.
The job wasn’t made any easier by the Maxx Crosby trade that was made and then rescinded by Baltimore, sending Crosby back to the Raiders while all the contracts were being finalized. While Spytek said that didn’t alter their plans much, it had to at least have them thinking of calling an audible.
But there was always a plan, which was bolstered by Mark Davis and the rest of the ownership group granting the front office the resources to make moves.
Assistant general manager Brian Stark, along with a personnel department that includes Brandon Hunt, Ben Chester, Jordan Brown and Jordon Hein, produced reports on every available player in the league to prepare for what the entire organization realized was going to be a pivotal offseason.
“They were super thorough,” Spytek said. “We had many great conversations throughout the season about how we wanted to really attack this going forward. We wanted to get younger. We wanted to target the right kind of people. So I’m just proud of the work we put in. It was great collaborative teamwork.”
The process included a bit of a holding pattern as the Raiders waited on Klint Kubiak to win a Super Bowl with Seattle before hiring him and getting a bit of a delayed start on assembling a coaching staff.
But the end result didn’t suffer in his mind.
“I thought we had a really great process with our scouts and the coaches together,” Spytek said. “We felt like we were able to really feel like we did a good job in free agency making the Raiders better.”
Now the fun part of the offseason begins, at least according to Spytek.
“I like the draft way more than free agency, so it’s actually a breath of fresh air to get into the draft prep,” he said. “But you’re on to the next thing and there’s not a lot of time in between them. We got through the first wave (of free agency) and there are still some things we might do here or there to kind of bolster the roster, but all eyes are fixated toward the draft now.”
While this part of the offseason may be in his comfort zone, it doesn’t mean he is growing comfortable in his second time going through the process. That’s not something that’s part of the job description for an NFL general manager, according to Spytek.
“I don’t think this is a job of comfort,” he said. “Just a little more confidence, maybe. Knowing what’s coming, knowing that there’s going to be things that you wake up to and didn’t think your phone was going to ring and that was going to happen today, but you’ll be able to just take the information as it comes and deal with it. But I’ve got a great group of people around me that have had a lot of success everywhere they’ve been.”
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