The good, the bad & the ugly

First-round draft pick Clelin Ferrell admittedly didn’t have the type of impact he and the Raiders expected during his rookie season. As he cleaned out his locker following the end of the regular season, Ferrell vowed to come back bigger, stronger and better.

- Michael Wagaman

“When I come back it’s going to be a completely different player. Probably won’t recognize me,” Ferrell said. “Just building on everything. I know what I have to work on. I know what I want to improve on. Just getting guys around to buy in on that, too.

“I hope the guys on the team really understand how special of a group we got and how bright our future is.”

That optimism was a common theme in the Raiders locker room one day after their season-ending loss in Denver. While the team did not make the playoffs again — that’s 16 times in 17 years they’ve been shut out of the postseason — the general belief within the organization is that they are not that far away from being a legitimate contender again.

“I think we all are in agreement that we’re in a better position now than we were a year ago,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “A year ago we had a lot we needed to address. We still have some things we need to address but it’s definitely a better place this year than we were 12 months ago. There’s no denying the fact of what we put on tape, and what we have to come in the future is nice.”

The Raiders indeed made strides in 2019. They won three more games than they did in Jon Gruden’s first season back on the sidelines, and they were in contention for a playoff berth up until the final week of the regular season.

But as Ferrell pointed out, it wasn’t good enough. Sounding an awful lot like the late, great Al Davis, the Raiders rookie defensive linemen wasn’t satisfied with merely coming close.