NFL offseason has officially begun, where to next for Raiders?

All’s quiet on the NFL front now. No more games to prepare for next week. Whether that be as a viewer or a player or coach. All college bowl games, awards shows, and the Super Bowl are done. The offseason has officially begun.

Save the takes from across the sports world on what happened in the Super Bowl and how it affects each player’s greatness and/or legacy along with debating who gets the most credit and blame for allowing the f—king Patriots to eek out another damn Super Bowl win.

For some teams ‘maybe next year’ began months ago. I would say that time was November 1st for the Raiders when they lost 34-3 to the 1-win 49ers in week 9 to drop to 1-7 on the season. That was almost exactly three months ago. Their season officially ended on December 30. Though if you cared about how the playoffs shook out, or how certain draft prospects performed in their bowl games, the football season wasn’t really over.

Now begins the long NFL offseason. Well, the time when games aren’t played. There will be plenty going on. That being said, February offers a short breather. So, what’s next?

The next significant event will be the Scouting Combine which begins on February 26. That’s some three weeks away.

In the mean time, it won’t be radio silence to say the least. Within the next few days, many players will have guarantees kick in on their contracts. Their current team will release them should they not wish to pay those guarantees. David Amerson was released by the Raiders the day after the Super Bowl last year.

We should know for sure where the Raiders are going to be calling home for the 2019 season. Reports late Sunday had the Raiders agreeing to terms with the San Francisco Giants to play at Oracle Park for the 2019 season, but there’s still the matter of the 49ers relinquishing territorial rights and the NFL signing off on it. This all needs to happen quickly because the NFL wants to put together the schedule.

There are also a few coaching and front office positions that have not officially been filled yet such as head strength and conditioning coach, assistant defensive line coach, and director of player personnel and director of pro personnel.

That news should keep us busy the next couple weeks along with all the speculation about what will happen with free agency and the draft.

Two weeks after the combine the free agent tampering period (March 11) opens which as we know is the actual start of free agency even though contracts can’t officially be signed until March 13. Free agency will be hot for the first week and trickle out for a couple weeks.

A month after the start of the league year (April 15), the offseason program starts. Two weeks after that is the draft (April 25).

You can see the full offseason schedule here.

Welcome to the offseason.