As the NFL continues to evolve, the tight end position has become an opportunity for offenses to gain a significant mismatch on defenses. The Patriots and Chiefs use this to their advantage every year, but it has been quite some time since the Silver & Black had a solid trio of tight ends.
While there was optimism heading into last season that Jared Cook, Lee Smith, and Clive Walford could break that trend, Cook was the only one that made an impact on the Raiders offense. Perhaps, a large reason for that was the offensive scheme those tight ends played in.