With the Combine getting smaller in the rear view mirror, free agency is growing larger in the windshield as you cruise down a certain Silver and Black street this spring.

Such is the start-stop-start nature of the NFL calendar.

Because with potential draft picks showing their wares in last week’s “Underwear Olympics” setting the stage for the draft, the next order of business is the start of the league year, which officially commences Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT (alas, there are the prior 52 hours of "legal tampering" to wade through first).

But when it comes to the Raiders, under relatively new management with second-year General Manager John Spytek and first-time Head Coach Klint Kubiak, there are needs to be addressed in free agency.

Boxes to be checked.

"What you want to do is attack some of the needs [in free agency] based on the strength of the draft," NFL.com analyst and co-host of the Raiders NFL Draft Podcast Bucky Brooks told me during the Combine.

"Where they're weak in the draft, you want to be strong in free agency. Ideally. If you're the Raiders, and there are some veteran offensive linemen … you take those guys. And then what that frees you up to do is take the best available player when it comes to the draft."

Because if the draft is meant to replenish the lifeblood of a roster, free agency exists to address those real and specific needs with those aforementioned veterans…before the draft.

And in real time.

Yes, a million times yes, the Raiders have been linked to Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall draft pick.

But selecting him – the Raiders have only used a first-round pick on a QB three times since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger in Marc Wilson (1980), Todd Marinovich (1991) and JaMarcus Russell (2007) – would make little sense if the team does not address its biggest, most obvious need first.

File this under that classic Blackstreet lyric "no diggity, no doubt."

So, armed with $87.8 million in cap space, per Spotrac, the Raiders should mine offensive linemen in free agency.

Deeply, and most importantly.

Even with all three starting linebackers - Elandon Roberts, Devin White and Jamal Adams - headed to free agency and the Raiders, per Kubiak, shifting to a 3-4 base scheme.

Even as cornerback Eric Stokes heads to free agency, potentially leaving the Raiders with Darien Porter with the most starts at corner with the team – 10.

And yes, even with no clear-cut WR1.

Say less?

Here's more.

O-line was an issue last year, and then some. Whether by scheme, desire or talent, Raiders quarterbacks had little time to scan the field, let alone throw downfield as they were sacked a league-high 64 times. The fact that Ashton Jeanty was a 25-yard gain away from a 1,000-yard rushing season was a testament to his shiftiness, considering how often, and how hard, he was hit before the line of scrimmage.

So while reports have surfaced that Kubiak and Co. like some of the returners on the line - and really, what's not to like about a healthy Kolton Miller, a healthy Jackson Powers-Johnson and the flashes shown by Caleb Rogers as a rookie? - new O-line coach Rick Dennison has to answer several self-scout questions first.

Queries around, yes, scheme, fit and desire.

Is JPJ a center or a guard? And that answer should determine where the Raiders go hunting in free agency. Because Tyler Linderbaum, a three-time Pro Bowler for the Ravens, is the crown jewel of centers in the free agent class. Linderbaum, 25, has yet to miss a game (though was inactive for two) in his four-year career and will be paid handsomely by someone for his services.

Also, the entire Browns offensive line is hitting free agency, and eight-year veteran right guard Wyatt Teller, a three-time Pro Bowler, could be a fit.

As the NFL Network’s Chris Rose said, "Teller is maybe the one guy you would want to look at."

Rose has added context and perspective, given he does play-by-play for the Browns preseason telecasts.

"I would say that Wyatt Teller is the one guy who still might make sense," Rose added. "He has been up and down, production-wise, but I would say that he's probably better than what the Silver and Black have offered the last couple of years."

Gregg Rosenthal of the NFL Daily Podcast had an intriguing idea for the Raiders – sign the Bills' interior O-line of center Connor McGovern and left guard David Edwards in free agency.

"They played next to each other, they communicated really well, they're rock-solid starters," Rosenthal said. "You're definitely the only team, I think, with enough cap space and the need to just make it happen. With one-stop shopping, you solve a couple of positions there."

Sign two plug-and-play veterans on the O-line in free agency to add to the likes of Miller, Powers-Johnson, Rogers, DJ Glaze and Charles Grant, and maybe add one or two more such grunts in the draft and let Dennison get to work.

It all starts up front. Nothing else matters if the QB, a No. 1 overall pick or a grizzled vet, can't be protected, or a running back can't even get started.

That's the map the Raiders should be following on this specific offseason cruise, right?