Reggie McKenzie's value will be shown this off-season

One of the most exciting days of the year as a football fan is just around the corner, the start of the Free Agency signing period.  The table is set, now we just have to see who will get invited for dinner in just a few short days.

This is finally the time for Reggie McKenzie to show us exactly what his worth is as a General Manager in the NFL. He has proven to be very good at "decontructing" a roster in order to get the Raiders all this cap space to use this year, now we get to see how good he is at putting it back together. Anybody can take apart their TV's remote control, its putting it back into working condition that is the impressive part!

Reggie needs to use this cap space wisely to put together a competetive team because patience is running thin after 11 years without a winning record. That is not his fault, but he will be the one being punished for it if the streak continues. Fair or not, it is just the way it works.

Personally I have a lot of faith in what Reggie McKenzie is going to be able to do with this team. He was my one and only choice to become the GM of the Raiders when the job became open, and now is his time to finally show how shrewd of a man he is. A great off-season this year could change the projection of the Raiders entirely from consistently inconsistent to a team capable of being a competitor year after year.

It all starts right here, right now for turning this team around. The last two years have been tough to handle, especially when they came after the team seemed poise to break out of their funk. Reggie and company were behind the 8ball when they took over the team, but they did what they had to do to get the books in order. Despite the lack of money spent on the roster last year the team still had games where they performed admirably, hopefully that is a sign of better days to come.

There is no way to soften the truth though, Reggie McKenzie has pressure on him. He needs to succeed this year, nothing else matters. This off-season has started out slow with the inability to ink pen to paper on important deals with Jared Veldheer, Lamarr Houston, and Rashad Jennings so Reggie really needs to get the ball moving a little bit more for this club.

If worst comes to worst and Reggie isn't able to re-sign those players the sky still isn't falling since they have the money to replace them if they have to. Still it does nobody any favors to open up even more holes on a roster already resembling swiss cheese. Contracts for players like Veldheer and Houston specifically are the hardest to get done though and they have not moved on yet. Hopefully they can still manage to find some common ground.

If no common ground can be met then Reggie's job just got that much harder but he was born and raised to be a GM in the NFL. He is here now living that dream and ready to do what he needs to do. He finally has the chance to build this club into what he wants it to be with the assets finally in place to not be handcuffed anymore.

It will be interesting to see what he is able to accomplish, though it will not be pretty if he isn't able to hit big this summer. That isn't a shot at the man, it is just the way it will be if he doesn't come through big next season. I have the feeling we will be looking back at this summer with smiles on our faces though, this is what Reggie has been building for and he has no plans of letting it crash down at his feet now.