The Oakland Raiders looked like one of the NFL's three best teams for most of the 2016 season before Derek Carr suffered a broken leg against the Colts in Week 16. The Raiders' championship aspirations were sunk with Carr's injury, but they return almost all of their key players from last year's team and are ready to make another run in 2017.
Quarterback
Derek Carr has developed into an elite NFL quarterback after being taken in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
His 7 yards per attempt was around league-average, but his incredible 28:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio was a main reason for Oakland's success last season. Carr's clutch gene was on display all year long as he led seven fourth-quarter comeback victories last season. Carr is protected by an incredible offensive line and he has plenty of weapons around him to put together another great year in 2017.
WR/TE
Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper will likely lead this team in receiving again this season after they both topped 1,000 yards receiving last year.
Seth Roberts and Cordarrelle Patterson will battle for the third wide receiver position, which will be critical in taking pressure off of Crabtree and Cooper.
The Raiders didn't get much production out of the tight end position last season, so they addressed that weakness by signing Jared Cook this offseason. Cook was an essential piece of Green Bay's stellar offense in 2016, but he was only healthy for 10 games. Cook could provide another weapon to dominate the middle of the field in this Raiders offense.
Running Back
One of the most exciting moves of the offseason was Marshawn Lynch's decision to come out of retirement and sign with his hometown Oakland Raiders. No one knows how much Lynch has left in the tank, but it's possible he could come into this season with some fresh legs after a year off. The Raiders have a couple of other talented players in this backfield as well in Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington.
Both Richard and Washington provide versatility in the passing game, and each of them ran for over 5.4 yards per carry last season.
Offensive Line
While the Raiders have plenty of talent at the skill positions, the offensive line is the biggest strength of this unit as Pro Football Focus ranked them as the league's seventh-best unit heading into 2017.
While Donald Penn, Gabe Jackson, Kelechi Osemele, and Rodney Hudson are all Pro Bowl-level talents, the Raiders may have upgraded at right tackle by bringing in Marshall Newhouse this offseason.
The Raiders don't have a single weakness on this offense, and the addition of Marshawn Lynch and Jared Cook could see 2016's eighth-ranked offense jump into the top five this season.