Raiders GM, scouts now have better understanding of team needs

SARASOTA, Fla. — During the Raiders’ trip east, assistant general manager Champ Kelly took in the Jackson State game against Southern University to check out some of the top players from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

It’s a reminder of the dual process as the Raiders settle in under the leadership of coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.

While the on-field results have not met expectations, the work that Ziegler and the college scouting group are doing will play a vital role in shaping the next era of Raiders football.

As can be expected, the lens Ziegler and his staff now look through offers a lot more clarity than when he came aboard in January and scrambled to put together a draft board and free agency wish list.

“Because, one, we have a much stronger sense of what we have on our team,” Ziegler said. “When you’re coming in in January, you still have to learn what was on the team, but you’re learning it without the perspective of being in it and being with the players every day, and understand what they were being asked to do is different than what we’re going to ask them to do.”

That includes the leeway needed to meld the holdovers with more than 30 newcomers who all are learning a new system.

“It can slow things down a bit,” said wide receiver Davante Adams, acquired in the offseason. “But the ultimate goal is me being here to make things better and bringing me around the other guys that were here to make things better, and part of that is learning and adjusting.”

That clarity and the new perspective it creates can be positive and negative. And, as can be expected, Ziegler, McDaniels and their staff have a much better handle on whom they will march into the future with on the roster but also whom they need to move on from.

As far as the replacing and replenishing part, the scouting staff, which includes holdovers from the previous regime and some newcomers, has a much better understanding of not only the task at hand but also what Ziegler and McDaniels are looking for in personnel.

When Kelly, Ziegler and the scouts hit the road to assess talent, it’s with a clearer idea of the necessary prototypes.

“Everybody’s on the same page in terms of what we’re looking for,” Ziegler said. “We have constant communication. We meet every week with our college scouts to talk about our current team, to talk about our needs, to talk about the areas that we feel that we’re strong at, the development of different players.”

The Raiders have nine picks in the 2023 NFL draft. Unlike the first draft Ziegler oversaw, the next one will include the obvious benefits of more than a year of working together.

“We’re going through the college scouting piece this fall with clarity, a better vision and more of a purpose in terms of what we’re trying to achieve,” Ziegler said. “I thought we did a good job with the time that we had in the draft this past year, and I expect it to be much better as we go forward.”

The goal, of course, is to secure talent that fits what McDaniels and the Raiders are doing schematically, but also to avoid the major swings and misses of the previous regime.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.