The Raiders can really begin planning for their 2017 roster now that they know who they’ll be playing.
The NFL announced each team’s opponent slate for next season on Monday morning, and Oakland won’t have it easy. They face five teams who have made the postseason, and another six who are expected to be competitive for a playoff seed but didn’t make it in this year.
Only one game in 2017 will be a team that isn’t expected to have a real shot for the playoffs. Yes, the Raiders have a brutal schedule once more, and the actual schedule has yet to be determined. Here are Oakland’s 2017 opponents:
Home
Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and the Baltimore Ravens.
Away
Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, and the Tennessee Titans.
Perhaps brutal doesn’t begin to tell the whole story.
The Raiders are expected to have some $60 million in cap room to play with, after a few cuts, and it appears they’re going to need every cent to continuously win like they did in 2016.
Jason Leskiw is SFBay’s Oakland Raiders beat writer and member of the Professional Football Writers of America. Follow @SFBay and @LeskiwSFBay on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Raiders football.
