There may not have been any trades made Tuesday afternoon https://www.raiderslockerroom.com/authentic-antonio-brown-jersey , but the Raiders did see a player depart. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie announced his retirement after 11 NFL seasons. His departure left an open roster spot and to fill it the Raiders activated James Cowser from the team’s practice squad.The former undrafted free agent out of Southern Illinois is now in his third season in Oakland. He’s appeared in 22 games with no starts. The nation’s sack leader as a Senior, has logged 1.0 sack in his NFL career along with 45 combined tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 3 fumble recoveries.The Raiders are the worst pass rushing team in the NFL, so they may as well give Cowser a shot to see if he can offer some help in that area. Though his call up in no way even guarantees he will be active on game day to get that chance.To replace Cowser’s spot on the practice squad, the Raiders signed tackle Jamar McGloster. The undrafted rookie originally signed with the 49ers out of Syracuse and also spent training camp with the Lions.Follow @LeviDamien Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is not a coach accustomed to losing. A Mike Zimmer acolyte, his Bengals defenses were typically in the top half of the league. Last year was an..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesSilver And Black Pride homepageHorizontal - WhiteSilver And Black Pridean Oakland Raiders communityFollow Silver And Black Pride online:Follow Silver And Black Pride on TwitterFollow Silver And Black Pride on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchSilver And Black Pride main menuFanpostsFanshotsRaidersOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Raiders StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Raiders NewsYahoo Raiders Team PageYahoo Raiders ReportYahoo Raiders Depth ChartYahoo Raiders TransactionsYahoo Raiders PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Paul Guenther says 2018 was his ‘hardest year of coaching’New,40commentsPDTRaiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is not a coach accustomed to losing. A Mike Zimmer acolyte, his Bengals defenses were typically in the top half of the league. Last year was an aberration for him, leading a Raiders defense which was putrid and contributed heavily to Oakland’s 4-12 record.“By far my hardest year in coaching. I just felt like the kind of players we were looking for, we’ve added a lot of those guys throughout the draft and free agency. Guys that kind of fit what we’re doing. Right now in the NFL everyone [is saying,] ‘Oh, we’re going to surprise everybody.’ And all these great predictions. Right now everybody feels great about their team. I’m just trying to get them better every day,” said Guenther after Monday’s OTA practices.The Raiders defense last year was a patchwork one, made up of cheap veterans who were supposed to provide some leadership to the Raiders’ young talent. However, there were far too few talented young players who were healthy enough to play, and with the trade of Khalil Mack the defense faltered until late in the season. The unit looked improved in the last few weeks of the season against Pittsburgh and Denver Womens Derek Carr Jersey , and Guenther himself learned plenty from last year’s debacle. “Well it starts with me on the defensive side, so I have to make sure when I come in this building I was in the right frame of mind. Going through a year like that and understanding, hey, this is what it was like, only helped me as a coach. It’s something that you don’t always want to go through, having a rough year like we did, but obviously you start to learn how to build these things. How to build your lineup card and what it should look like and how you envisioned it. That was the positive for me. I always tell the players, if you don’t learn from failure, you’re making a mistake. You have to learn from what we did good and what we did bad and build off of that in the future,” said Guenther.Gone now are those short-term stopgap veterans, and in their place are some quality free agents such as Lamarcus Joyner and several promising rookies. Can Guenther put the defensive unit in a position to succeed? There was certainly more than enough failure last season to learn lessons from, but Guenther does have a track record of success and now has more players who fit what he wants to do. Perhaps last year’s circumstances were just too much to overcome. We are pretty sure the Raider offense will be more explosive this year, but if the Guenther-led defense can be even league average, the Raiders will be a force to be reckoned with. Guenther took his lumps last season, but there’s plenty in Oakland to build on defensively.