As he’s done many times in the past, color commentator Lincoln Kennedy shared some interesting opinions this week on the Raiders.

Appearing on The Pillaging Podcast (a small podcast, but a good one), Kennedy opened by addressing roster needs and the draft.

“This team doesn’t need to go and draft another receiver. What you need to go with the first pick, the first couple picks in my opinion, is get yourself a linebacker, get yourself a defensive, get yourself somebody that’s going to help this defense because that’s where the biggest holes in this foundation seem to lay.”

“I want those boys to go out and get Roquan Smith, the linebacker from Georgia.”

Kennedy said the Raiders also need to shuffle around a couple young players in the secondary.

“As much as I love Karl Joseph, his inability to cover tight ends is what set him back,” Kennedy said of the 5’10 safety. “Karl Joseph has to move over to free safety.”

As for Derek Carr, Kennedy said the Raiders young quarterback did too thinking this season and it affected him.

“Calm down Derek Carr and simplify the reads.”

“What we saw out of Derek Carr this past year is we saw Derek Carr regress. The reason why he regressed is because he started thinking too much, either with the ‘check-with-me system’ or how to decipher a defense or whatever it was, he started thinking too much. I don’t want my quarterback to think too much. I want my quarterback to know before he touches the ball, where he can go with the football. That’s what Jon Gruden’s offense is going to bring.”

Kennedy closed his appearance by talking about the one thing he thinks the Raiders locker room is still missing.

“I think the only thing that’s really lacking of this team is somebody in that locker room that’s going to get in guys’ face…”

Kennedy said the Raiders primary leaders – Carr, Cooper, and Mack – tend to lead more by example.

Asked if there was a player currently on the roster who might be comfortable stepping into a more vocal leadership role under Gruden, Kennedy said he didn’t know.

Interesting.

Check out the Pillaging Podcast. Well executed podcast. Good job, guys.

twitter: @raidersbeat