Getty Former Raiders LB Will Compton.
After another bad season on the defensive side of the ball, the Las Vegas Raiders have completely revamped their linebacker corps. Nicholas Morrow is the only notable name that has stuck around. Will Compton was brought in during the regular season last and actually played well for the team.
Despite that fact, the Raiders didn’t seem all that interested in re-signing him. After spending months in the free-agent pool, Compton has landed with the Tennessee Titans, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.
The Titans are expected to sign LB Will Compton, per source. Compton spent the 2018 season with Tennessee and co-hosts the @BussinWTB podcast with OT Taylor Lewan. The Boy is back.
This will be Compton’s second stint in Tennessee as he was with them in 2018. The linebacker is most notable for his popular podcast Bussin’ With the Boys, which he co-hosts with Titans Pro Bowler Taylor Lewan. It’s a strong fit for Compton but he’s going to have a hard time making the roster this late in training camp. He needs to impress early and often.
Raiders LB Corps Should Be Much Better
Though it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to bring Compton back to Las Vegas for depth purposes, the Raiders shouldn’t worry too much about their linebacker corps. They spent big money to add Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski this offseason which completely changes the position group.
Both men are athletic and a huge upgrade over what the Raiders had last year. It’s been a really long time since the team had a good linebacker corps and that fact looks like it’s about to change. If both free-agent additions are as good as advertised, the Raiders should have a much better season on defense.
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Cory Littleton a Top-10 LB, Says PFF
Kwiatkoski will be wearing the green dot and running the defense on the field, but Littleton should be the star. He’s been to a Pro Bowl and is one of the better linebackers in the NFL. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s the eighth-best player at the position in the league:
If you’re expecting Littleton to come down and make a difference in the run game, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Littleton does do two things at an elite level, though — cover and tackle. Over the past two seasons, Littleton has a PFF coverage grade of 90.6 and has missed just nine of his 254 tackling opportunities. That’s why the Raiders signed him this offseason. Over that same two-year stretch, the 37.9 coverage grade for Raiders’ linebackers collectively came out ahead of only the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants. Their 12% missed tackle rate as a unit also came in as a bottom-10 mark across all defenses. Littleton should help correct both those areas.
What Littleton does well is what the Raiders have struggled at for years. Tight ends have destroyed the team’s defense for a very long time. Littleton immediately helps fix that issue and his sure tackling will be a welcome addition. Kwiatkoski used to be a safety so he’s got a lot of upside in pass defense also. Teams playing the Raiders usually get their tight ends involved early and often. They probably won’t be able to do that going forward.
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