Jon Gruden’s coaching career has included a never-ending quest for a balanced offense. For the first time since he returned to the Raiders after nine years in the broadcast booth, he’s got something approaching a balanced roster.

Gone are the days of paying some $40 million more to offensive players as opposed to defensive personnel. As it stands heading into the NFL Draft, the Raiders have just over $92 million in cap space tied up in offensive players and nearly $83 million in defensive talent according to OverTheCap.com.

Off-loading the huge contracts of offensive linemen Trent Brown, Gabe Jackson and Rodney Hudson made the biggest difference. Apart from that, the Raiders actually look downright conventional when it comes to their three biggest investments.

The top three cap figures belong to three of the most important positions — quarterback Derek Carr ($22.125 million), left tackle Kolton Miller ($13,469,329) and edge rusher Yannick Ngakouke ($13 million).

Of the 10 highest cap figures on the roster, six are defensive players (Ngakoue, Cory Littleton, Clelin Ferrell, Carl Nassib, Nick Kwiatkoski, Nicholas Morrow).

The Raiders have remained stealth other than one one conference call with general manager Mike Mayock in early March. Gruden has remained underground.

So if you want to know what the Raiders are thinking, follow the money:

Carr put on idle

The Raiders did not restructure Carr’s deal for additional cap room, which puts them in a position to move on next offseason without the kind of crippling dead money that comes from trading a quarterback with big bonus proration.

Detroit (Matt Stafford), the Rams (Jared Goff) and Philadelphia (Carson Wentz) have dead money ranging between $39 million and $41 million because they dealt quarterbacks whose deals still had some heavy lifting financially.

That’s not to say the Raiders are looking to move on from Carr, only that if 2021 is a disaster, they’ll be able to start fresh without the dead money concern.

Another changing of the guard?

Veteran guard Richie Incognito took a salary reduction all the way to a cap number of $1,227,500.

That leaves open the possibility second-year player John Simpson and Denzelle Good could emerge as starters with Incognito a next-man-up reserve. If Simpson isn’t yet up to it, Incognito can step in for as long as his 38-year-old body can carry him.

The Agholor effect

The Raiders had no way of knowing wide receiver Nelson Agholor would deliver in the manner he did a year ago playing for a salary near the league minimum.

Two of their most recent signings have the potential to be pleasant surprises such as Agholor was — or fighting for a roster spot as a minimum wage veteran.

Veteran Willie Snead IV ($987,500) is running behind second-year players Henry Ruggs III, Bryan Edwards, Hunter Renfrow and free agent John Brown. Brown’s cap number of $3,256,975 highest on the roster for his position group.

Then there’s Zay Jones, whose $2.5 million salary was reportedly guaranteed. That’s five spots locked down and there’s no guarantee the Raiders will carry six. But what Snead offers is a veteran presence in case of injury or if Ruggs and/or Edwards don’t reach the heights the Raiders expect in 2021.

Then there’s Karl Joseph, another player at the veteran minimum of $987,500. He’s not the classic center fielder the roster still requires, but he’ll serve a purpose in pushing Johnathan Abram as an in-the-box safety and perhaps some of Joseph’s more level-headed intensity can have an impact.

Raiders fullback Alec Ingold serves as his team’s union representative. A.P. Photo

‘Soft’ boycott has players on site

The Raiders aren’t going to go out of their way to publicize it, but the word is plenty of players are taking advantage of the facilities as the offseason workout program began Monday.

Most teams paid lip service to the NFLPA’s wishes on a “boycott,” some with language which suggested the action would be soft. Some teams in their statements said “many” players wouldn’t participate on-site, while the Raiders left language for those with bonus money tied to workouts to collect those bonuses.

The Raiders’ NFLPA rep is fullback Alec Ingold, who faces the dual dilemma of supporting the union as well as serving an example of being one of the most above-reproach worker bees on the roster.

It makes little sense for young, developing players to stay away. The Raiders’ facilities are better than anything they can come up with on their own and more secure (or should be) in a COVID-19 sense.

Many players have moved to the Las Vegas area. When the team was based in Alameda, many more players lived out of state for cost-of-living and tax purposes. If you’re already living in the area, why would you work out anywhere else than the place you’re trying to land a fulltime job?

Some fans were dismayed when the Raiders released defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr. on Monday. Getty Images

Latest D-line purge

Maurice Hurst Jr. and Arden Key were waived Monday, leaving only three members from Gruden’s first draft class which came with Reggie McKenzie as general manager. One of those three, wide receiver Marcell Ateman, has bounced between the 53-man roster and the practice squad.

There was some social media angst over Hurst’s departure and I get it. He wasn’t a dominating presence, had short arms and was undersized but at least occasionally showed up in a way that Maliek Collins never did last year.

Key was on his way out even before his personal foul against Ryan Fitzpatrick set up Miami’s game-winning field goal in Week 16.

P.J. Hall, released a year ago, was also part of that draft.

Meanwhile, the Gruden staff has sent players such as Denico Autry and Benson Mayowa packing despite stretches of pretty solid play. If you want to go back further, Shelby Harris, part of McKenzie’s 2014 draft class, has blossomed in Denver after being cut not only by the Raiders, but the New York Jets and Dallas.

Should Hurst and/or Key produce elsewhere, the Raiders had better hope Quinton Jefferson, Solomon Thomas and Matt Dickerson can be contributors to an upgraded front seven or their own development strategies will continue to be questioned.