While the Raiders have two legit Rookie of the Year candidates on both sides of the ball, that’s an NFL award. What of the team awards? Let’s see if we can put those together. Let’s start with a couple awards you won’t see at the NFL Honors.
Top Newcomer: Offense
RT Trent Brown
Right tackle has been a revolving door in Oakland for years. In more ways than one. Last season it started with Donald Penn playing out of position and ended with Brandon Parker playing out of his league. The result was Derek Carr being sacked 51 times.
With Brown in place, Carr was sacked 29 times. And a good amount of those happened late in the season when Brown went out with a pectoral injury and Parker was put back in. As if we all needed a reminder of Brown’s value to this line. They made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in history for a reason.
Top Newcomer: Defense
DE Benson Mayowa
The top performance on defense came from rookie Maxx Crosby. But until he came into form, Mayowa was terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. He was signed late in free agency, which for a pass rusher, is shocking. Usually, even the halfway decent ones are swiped up quickly.
The journeyman Mayowa was literally an afterthought. Then he put up a career-high 7.0 sacks in the first nine games. And the Raiders went 5-4 during that time. He’s just 28, so he may be thought of a bit more come free agency this year.
