Getty Oakland Raiders DE Arden Key.
The Oakland Raiders entered Week 5 against the Chicago Bears pretty banged up and didn’t fare much better once the game was finished. During the Bears’ second to last drive, defensive end Arden Key went down with an injury after barely missing a sack on quarterback Chase Daniel. The team was so close to leaving the game unscathed, but Key’s injury was bad enough to where he had to be helped off the field.
Now a new report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has shed more light as to what ails Key.
#Raiders DE Arden Key suffered a strained patellar tendon during the game in London, source said. He’s expected to miss a couple weeks and the team is working out edge players today.
It looks like Key is suffering from a strained patellar tendon, which is the tendon that attaches the kneecap to the shin bone. Rapoport says that he will only miss a couple of weeks, which definitely isn’t as bad as it could’ve been. If he’s on point, Key could only miss one game because the Raiders are in the midst of their bye week.
Regardless, it looks like Oakland is going to try and replace him in the short term as Rapoport also reports that the team is working out some pass rushers. Benson Mayowa and Maxx Crosby played incredibly well against the Bears, so whoever the team adds will probably be a short-term addition.
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Arden Key Has yet to Get a Sack This Season
Expectations were somewhat high for Arden Key heading into 2019 as he added a good deal of muscle in the offseason. After a disappointing rookie season that only saw him get one sack, it could’ve been assumed that he would see his numbers go up with a greater influx of talent around him. However, that hasn’t been the case. Through five games, he hasn’t taken down the quarterback once.
This is a disappointing development considering Key terrorized quarterbacks during his time at LSU. This latest injury should set him back even more. He’s got all the tools and talent to be a solid pass rusher, he just hasn’t figured out a way to pull it all together. He’s still young, so the Raiders will give him plenty of chances to prove that he should keep that starting spot once he’s healthy again.
Clelin Ferrell Should Return After Bye Week
Though Oakland could be without one of their starters once the bye week wraps up, they could be getting their prized rookie back. He missed the game with the Bears due to a concussion, but it shouldn’t keep him out going forward. Clelin Ferrell has somewhat disappointed this season, but there’s plenty of time for him to improve. According to Pro Football Focus, Ferrell has been pretty ineffective as a pass rusher:
Ferrell was ruled out of the Raiders’ Week 5 game against the Chicago Bears as he dealt with a concussion. It’s been a disappointing start for the former Clemson star, who has managed to produce four sub-60.0 single-game grades in four games so far. As a pass-rusher, he’s recorded only 10 pressures across his 130 pass-rushing snaps — for comparison, the Jags’ Josh Allen has 17 pressures on 152 snaps, and Brian Burns now has 18 pressures on 133 pass-rushing snaps.
Nobody is counting Ferrell out yet. He was dominant at Clemson and has the kind of attitude a player needs to succeed. The Raiders will surely need him to breakout versus the Green Bay Packers in Week 7 as Aaron Rodgers is looking at good as ever.
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