The 10 Worst NFL Teams of the Last Decade

6. 2009 Oakland Raiders

nERD: -13.09
Record: 5-11, 3rd in AFC West

It’s a bad sign when one of the league’s premier malcontents refuses to report to your team -- famed for being the Island of Misfit Toys of the NFL -- after being traded there. That’s how the 2009 Oakland Raiders kicked off the season, after swapping a 2011 first-round pick for premier defensive lineman Richard Seymour a few days before the season. It didn’t get much better from there.

Quarterback bust Jamarcus Russell led the team to the eighth-worst offensive season by Adjusted Offensive NEP per play in the last decade. Russell’s -0.37 Total NEP per play that year was the fourth-worst quarterback season since 2000, and his -115.53 Passing NEP was the second-worst mark in this category. Russell was relieved of his starting duties for the Week 11 game and released the following offseason.

Running back Darren McFadden joined the party with a -0.08 Total NEP per play, 55th out of the 60 qualifying running backs that year. It’s honestly a shock that wide receivers Louis Murphy and Chaz Schilens and tight end Zach Miller all had Total NEP per play rates above 0.50.

If the ugliness of the Raiders’ defense was hinted at by the five-time Pro Bowler, Seymour, nearly turning his nose up at them, it was made very clear once they stepped onto the field and finished 28th in the league in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play in 2009. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha did make the Pro Bowl this year, as he was targeted just 27 times by opposing quarterbacks and allowed a catch rate below 50 percent.

The Raiders slumped their way through a half-hearted season highlighted by TV blackouts for the Black Hole. I love special teams as much as the next guy, but when punter Shane Lechler and long snapper Joe Condo are two of your team’s three Pro Bowl representatives, you know something may be amiss.