The Oakland Raiders are once again in the thick of offensive upheaval. While second-year quarterback Derek Carr is the lone bright spot of hope, the rest of the offense is littered with question marks. The team is expected to address the wide receiver position in the draft, but the running back spot is still an unknown at this point.
Darren McFadden, last year's leading rusher with a whopping total of 534 yards, signed with the Dallas Cowboys in free agency. Maurice Jones-Drew retired. That leaves second-year rusher Latavius Murray and first-round bust Trent Richardson as the lone backs with experience on this roster. New head coach Jack Del Rio expects the two to compete for the starting gig throughout training camp and the preseason, though neither is an ideal option.
Murray has just 82 career carries and Richardson, the former No. 3 overall pick, disappointed big-time in Cleveland and Indianapolis.
"I think it will be a competitive situation," Del Rio said.
Del Rio was not scared off by Richardson's previous struggles. In fact, he told the young running back to embrace this challenge.
"What I saw when we brought him in and talked to him was a young man that was hungry to kind of leave that portion of his career behind him and start fresh," Del Rio said. "My challenge to him was, 'Look, I don't want you to worry about anything other than coming in here and competing your butt off every day. Come in here and be a great teammate. Come in here and find a role on special teams. Come in here and just grind every day with the hunger you had as a freshman at Alabama."
