No one is more sick of hearing about the Raiders building a foundation than Derek Carr. He’s been down this road too many times in his six-year career with the Raiders.

He was supposed to be a big part of the foundation of the future when he took over the starting QB job as a rookie. That didn’t go too smoothly. A coaching change came quickly. Then just as things were looking up, a coordinator change sent it down in flames. Then it was Gruden’s turn, and the rebuild didn’t start out quickly with his first rookie class slow to show any promise.

This rookie class, however, has been showing some promising early returns. And it came to a head in Oakland Sunday when every one of the team’s four touchdowns in a win over the Lions came by way of a rookie. It has Carr feeling like maybe this time, the future of the team is in good hands.

“You got to lay a foundation, and I feel like we’ve laid one and jackhammered it out about 14 times since I’ve been here,” said Carr. “This one, I hope stays. That’s for sure. I’m starting to lose my hairline and get grey hairs in my beard, but this foundation is pretty good.”

This was the game heading to the midseason mark. The Raiders were sitting at 3-4, which means a win and their back to .500, which is mentally a big difference from being two games away should they lose.

They got here with a lot of help from their rookies, and so it’s befitting that they caped for the Raiders to weather the 5-game road trip and come out of it feeling like they’re in the thick of things.

The first score came from the man who has been vital for the Raiders all season coming in, first-round running back Josh Jacobs. It was the first of two touchdowns for the young phenom back on the day.

“That boy’s the future. Josh Jacobs is incredible,” said tight end Darren Waller. “We’re going to run through him, that’s what we do. I don’t think anybody on this team has a problem with him leading the rush. He’s special.”

That first run by Jacobs put the Raiders up 7-0 early. His second TD came late in the second quarter and grabbed the lead back to send the Raiders into the half up 17-14.

That wouldn’t be enough as the Lions would tie it up in the third quarter. But come the end of the third, the Raiders were knocking on the door again. And in third and goal from the three, Carr dialed up his dependable rookie tight end, Foster Moreau, throwing to him over the middle for six.

Moreau isn’t the go-to tight end on this team. That would be Darren Waller, who recently signed a long term extension. But it’s the fourth round rookie Moreau who has quietly been racking up the scores for the Raiders. His go-ahead touchdown catch was his third of the season.

“Foster knows the timing of plays as far as where things open up and holes in zones, and he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be,” said Waller. “Foster is a really good football player, and people are starting to realize that on a week to week basis, how he carries over and how he’s getting better.”

Once again, that would prove not to be enough. With the Lions coming back to score another touchdown and tie it up again, more was needed. And once again, it was the young bucks who stepped up.

This time it was Fifth-round rookie Hunter Renfrow, who played the scramble drill to perfection, getting himself open along the right side of the end zone where Derek Carr could find him for the score.

“It’s something we’ve been working on, just to become more available, and when a play breaks down, create a new play,” said Renfrow of his TD catch. “Derek did a phenomenal job, the offensive line did a good job to protect and let him get outside the pocket. And from there, it was just backyard football.”

These guys are so young, it wasn’t long ago that they were literally playing football in their backyard. And yet here they are on the biggest stage, playing like savvy veterans.

For Renfrow, his breakout moment happened last week in Houston when he caught a short pass, broke two tackles and took it 65 yards to the house. It was his first touchdown as a pro, and it was a big one.

“Confidence wise. In college, I had a big catch in the Notre Dame game, and that kind of felt like I belonged. And that was similar to that last week,” said Renfrow. “That feeling that just being able to go out there and contribute and just win games. Because for me, it’s never about how many catches or how many touchdowns. It’s at the end of the day do I feel like I’ve done enough to be a good teammate and to go win games for our team. So, the more we play, the more we do, hopefully, I can continue on that.”

Unfortunately, that touchdown didn’t result in a win. The Raiders would lose the lead late, leaving little to celebrate for Renfrow. The celebration was postponed to this week. And it was all the more special because he got to celebrate it with the rest of the rookies in his draft class, also putting points on the board. Josh Jacobs feels it too.

“it means a lot,” said Jacobs. “Just because coming in our class, we made a commitment to each other that we wanted to change the culture here, and we wanted to build a dynasty, and just to see is committing to that, and living up to it has been huge.”

Dynasty is a strong word. But everyone knows they’re built through the draft. You set the foundation for long term success that way. That’s the feeling these rookies gave their team Sunday in Oakland. The Raiders have already matched their 2018 win total at the midway point of the season. You build on that, and it’s the young players who will take that and run with it. Or in this case, score with it.