Getty Las Vegas Raiders GM Mike Mayock.
With the playoffs out of reach for the Las Vegas Raiders, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming offseason. Next season, the team won’t have any excuses. It will be the fourth year into Jon Gruden’s rebuild and the team needs to show strong progress. The biggest area that needs improvement is the defense.
There is young talent to be found on the squad but the Raiders still need more pieces before they can even put together an average defense. The team has very limited cap space this offseason so their focus should be on upgrading through the draft. Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report believes that with the Raiders’ first-round pick, they should go linebacker:
The one position that the Raiders haven’t thoroughly addressed in the draft of late is linebacker. Micah Parsons would be the dream, but he’ll likely be long gone by the time Las Vegas is on the clock. But Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah might be within reach, and Matt Miller calls him “the best three-down linebacker in the draft” as well as “an instant-impact player.”
The Raiders D could use that range in the second level, which is why he beats out top potential edge-rusher prospects such as Gregory Rousseau, Kwity Paye and Joseph Ossai.
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Owusu-Koramoah Excels in Coverage
There have been multiple mock drafts that have already linked Owusu-Koramoah to the Raiders. His athleticism and versatility would be a welcome addition to the linebacker corps. Cory Littleton was signed in the offseason to be the team’s top coverage linebacker. For whatever reason, he has struggled in his first in Las Vegas.
If the Raiders aren’t sure he can bounce back, it would be wise to draft a linebacker like Owusu-Koramoah. The team simply doesn’t get good enough coverage from their linebackers. Another exciting thing about Owusu-Koramoah is that he’s had success blitzing. He’s accumulated seven sacks in his two seasons at Notre Dame. The Raiders have avoided drafting linebackers in the first two rounds since the Rolando McClain miss. Perhaps it’s time to change that fact.
Defensive Tackle Appears to Be a More Pressing Need
Based on the product we saw this season, the Raiders do need help at linebacker. However, the team is stuck with Littleton, and Nick Kwiatkoski was actually a good addition. Nicholas Morrow played and they should try to retain him. Linebacker might not be realistic for the team this early in the draft unless they hire a 3-4 defensive coordinator like Wade Phillips.
There are weaknesses all over the defense but defensive tackle might be the weakest position of all. Maliek Collins was a massive disappointment and probably won’t be brought back. Maurice Hurst had the worst season of his short career. Johnathan Hankins is a good player but he’s a run stopper and not a pass rusher. The Raiders need to find somebody who can bring a push in the middle and make life easier for the defensive ends. Unfortunately, there isn’t an elite defensive tackle prospect that has emerged this year. The Raiders might need to wait until the second round to address the need. That said, there’s still a lot of time before the draft, and players will start to move up and down draft boards. Perhaps the Raiders’ defensive tackle star of the future isn’t getting talked about quite yet.
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