Getty New Las Vegas Raiders LB Raekwon McMillan.
Training camp just wrapped up for the Las Vegas Raiders but that hasn’t stopped them from adding some help. The team revamped their linebacker corps this offseason but they’ve been looking for potential depth options since early in training camp. They recently signed former Los Angeles Chargers starter Kyle Emanuel but they weren’t done there.
According to Barry Jackson, the Raiders are making a trade with the Miami Dolphins for starting linebacker Raekwon McMillan.
Dolphins linebacker Raekwon McMillan has being traded to the Raiders, per source.
In return, the Raiders give up a fourth-round pick while getting a fifth in return, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
McMillan only played three seasons in Miami and started 28 or 29 games played. His career got off to a bad start as he tore his ACL which caused him to miss his entire rookie season. He also had injury issues last season and missed three games. Over his two seasons, McMillan has a combined 177 tackles and eight tackles for loss.
McMillan Was a 2nd Round Pick in 2017
Adding McMillan falls in line with what Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock have proven to like in the past. The linebacker was a second-round pick by the Dolphins in 2017 and both Gruden and Mayock love bringing in former high draft picks after they didn’t work out with their original team.
McMillan played college ball at Ohio State and was named First-Team All-Big Ten in 2016. Here’s what said of him by NFL.com’s Lance Zierlain during the draft process:
McMillan has too many issues standing his ground and leveraging his gap as an interior run defender and could end up outside in the pros. He might have benefited from playing alongside a slew of NFL talent, but he’s active and plays the game with good instincts. He has the potential to become an average starter in the league.
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McMillan Is More of a Run Stopper
McMillan falls in line with the types of linebackers the Raiders have added in previous years. He’s a run stopper who doesn’t do a lot in pass coverage. The team added Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski this offseason, who are the polar opposite. But both men are great pass defenders but aren’t known for the run-stopping ability.
It appears the Raiders have moved on from having more traditional type linebackers but it looks like that might not be the case. It’s probably a smart move to add a run stopper. Littleton and Kwiatkoski are great but on obvious running downs, it could be smart to have McMillan on the field.
The Raiders run a lot of sets where they only have two linebackers on the field. Those linebackers will almost always be Kwiatkoski and Littleton but there will be times where three linebackers are in. Las Vegas gave up a fourth-round pick for McMillan. They wouldn’t do that if they weren’t pretty sure he was going to make the team. It’s late in the game but McMillan is probably a lock to make the roster now, which could mean bad news to somebody like Nicholas Morrow.
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