As the 11th consecutive non-playoff season ended in Oakland, rumors floated indicating that the jobs of General in-depthManager Reggie McKenzie and Head Coach Dennis Allen’s may be in jeopardy. Cooler heads prevailed, however, as ownership decided to acknowledge the salary cap hell Oakland has been recovering from since the duo arrived.

The training wheels likely come off in 2014 though. The Raiders are back in the ball game with significant cap space and the ability to begin adding talent. So how far is this Oakland team that is coming off of consecutive 4-12 finishes from being relevant again?

Depends on how the offseason goes, says Chase Ruttig, editor of Just Blog Baby. If all goes well, he thinks it’s not out of the question the long-struggling Raiders might be a factor in 2015. Here’s what Ruttig has to say.

Zoneblitz: The Raiders were competitive in a number of games early before slumping over the last month or so. What happened and how would you characterize this season?

Ruttig: I would characterize the Raiders season as one that should have been expected with Reggie McKenzie deconstructing the team to have as much cap space as possible to rebuild. Once defensive players like Tyvon Branch and DJ Hayden got hurt the secondary that they built to stay competitive was gone and as the season progressed you started to notice that lack of talent that was being committed to dead cap space as they simply were not deep enough to compete.

Zoneblitz: What did you think of the decision to keep Dennis Allen?

Ruttig: I liked the decision and it was the right one to make. It would have been unfair for Dennis Allen to be fired after the team planned to deconstruct for two seasons. A lot of people like to compare the 8-8 seasons of the past to Dennis Allen’s two 4-12 seasons and forget that the Raiders were operating close to the cap for those 8-8 seasons. Now the Raiders have a chance to properly evaluate Allen this year as they truly begin to start their rebuild.

Zoneblitz: The team has been in salary cap purgatory for a couple years. How does that situation look heading into 2014?

Ruttig: $64 million plus can buy you a lot of talent and I think that is what you will see come free agency with the Raiders. Maybe they don’t overspend like they used to, but there will be a lot of stories coming out about the Raiders signing quality role players and stocking up on depth come March.

Zoneblitz: What is your sense for the work Reggie McKenzie is doing with the team?

Ruttig: McKenzie has been handcuffed by having to deconstruct the team to make them salary cap manageable as well as by the ridiculous Carson Palmer trade. Year One he had no draft picks and Year Two his first two picks in Hayden and Menelik Watson were hurt. He has found some good talent, and he has missed at times by bringing in Matt Flynn but you have to wait until the end of the 2014 season to get a good gauge of what McKenzie has done so far.

Zoneblitz: The Raiders seem to have some usable skill players on offense, but the team went through several QBs this year with mixed results. Matt McGloin and Terrelle Pryor showed glimpses. What are your thoughts on the offense as a whole and as to whether or not the future signal caller is currently on the roster?

Ruttig: The offense as a whole operated better under McGloin and it really wasn’t a surprise as he got the ball out of his hands far faster than Pryor did. Pryor’s legs make things happen, but when McGloin was throwing the football the likes of Rod Streater, Andre Holmes and Mychal Rivera all showed that can play in this league at a quality level. They may not have won many games with McGloin, but they moved the ball down the field more consistently

Zoneblitz: What’s the future of Darren McFadden in Oakland?

Ruttig: Unclear, but it looks like McFadden is only coming back to Oakland if nobody else wants him. After paying him top dollar to be the cornerstone of the franchise it is quite clear that DMC is broken down and can’t get on the field enough to be a feature back. The Raiders would be wise to move onto a platoon system and if that includes McFadden I am fine with that. I just think he ends up somewhere else unless the market is ice cold on him.

Zoneblitz: The defense gave up 453 points, 29th in the league. What has to be done to fix the defense?

Ruttig: Depth. Oakland was playing very good defense at the start of the season and even were in the logjam around the AFC Wild Card before DJ Hayden got hurt and that was after Branch’s injury so it was really a double whammy for Oakland. In the modern NFL you won’t get away with having as much dead cap as the Raiders had last year because that money isn’t going to any talent so with the money being reinvested back into the roster I would expect the Raiders defense to be Top 20 at the least next year because coordinator Jason Tarver is a great game plan guy when he has the tools to do something.

Zoneblitz: The Raiders haven’t made the playoffs since 2002 and play in a division that sent three teams to the playoffs this year. How far off are they from competing for the postseason?

Ruttig: I say 2015, but you never know. Hit on the right free agents and draft picks and get some luck and they could be this year’s San Diego Chargers, who get hot in December and back-doored themselves into the playoffs. You just never know, but with so much roster turnover this rebuild looks scheduled for the playoffs in 2015 at the earliest barring some good breaks in the offseason and during the season itself.

Zoneblitz: What would you like to see Oakland do in the draft and free agency?

Ruttig: Commit to one of the Top 5 QB’s in the draft in the first three rounds, build depth, and stay flexible for 2015. If the Raiders are going to turn this ship around in Oakland they have to do all of those three things and avoid the type of mistakes that have plagued them since 2002. Doing the deconstructing is easy, but now the onus is on Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen to prove that they can build this team the right way as they have promised over the past two painful years.

Follow Chase Ruttig on Twitter at: @ChaseRuttig
Follow Just Blog Baby on Twitter at: @JustBlogBaby
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