Silver Minings: Football Outsiders release their Raiders 2020 projections

Football gets nerdier each year. It may not be as geeky as what baseball has become, but pigskin number crunchers are catching up when it comes to analytics. One of the NFL godfathers of metrics is Football Outsiders.

The site has been crunching NFL stats for years so it’s kind of a big deal when Outsiders’ annual projection book is released. The 2020 book hit shelves this week, and the Associated Press has passed along some interesting Raiders projections.

FO projects the Raiders to win 7.7 games in 2020, which is a fancy way of saying it expects them to go 7-9 for a second straight season, with a 38.1 percent chance of making the playoffs. Remember, the AFC playoffs will increase from six to seven teams in 2020, so I find that percentage to be a tad low.

The Raiders are projected to have the No. 16 offense and the No. 20 defense in the league this season. If this defense is the 20th best in the NFL in 2020, the Raiders’ offense better crack the top 10, which it is definitely capable of doing after an offseason of adding key pieces.

You can find individual Raiders’ offensive projections here. I think they’re pretty low on some players, including running back Josh Jacobs and tight end Darren Waller

In other Raiders’ links:

• Remembering Al: ESPN analyst and former Raider Louis Riddick spoke with Raiders.com and shared a great memory of the late Al Davis.
• Josh doesn’t care: Josh Jacobs took to Twitter to give his thoughts on his Madden 21 grade and EA probably isn’t thrilled about it.
• Love for the new LB: USA TODAY ranked Raiders free-agent signing Cory Littleton as the seventh-best off-ball linebacker in the NFL.
• Talking up Ruggs: Nate Tice, the son of former Raiders’ assistant coach Mike Tice, loves the Henry Ruggs III fit for Las Vegas.
• Invading Utah: Now that they are in Las Vegas, expect the Raiders to try to claim fans in nearby Utah.