Getty Former Raiders DL Mario Edwards.
Former Raiders second-round pick Mario Edwards Jr. is signing a deal with the Seattle Seahawks. Edward originally came into the NFL as the No. 35 overall pick of the Raiders in 2015 and started in 24 games for the team before moving on. Over his career, he has played for five different teams.
The Seahawks will be the sixth team he has landed with. He spent last season with the Tennessee Titans.
Seahawks sign veteran DE Mario Edwards Jr.
Edwards has never developed into a dependable pass rusher like the Raiders were hoping he’d be out of college but he’s managed to put together a long career. He’s also good for a least a couple of sacks a season. He’s had multiple sacks in every season where he played more than two games. The Seahawks are an ascending team and could have one of the best defenses in the NFL next season. Seattle was tied for seventh in sacks last season so they don’t need a lot of pass rush help but Edwards gives them a solid veteran for depth purposes.
Raiders Sign Tyree Wilson
The Raiders haven’t done a good job drafting defensive linemen in the second round, Edwards, Jihad Ward and P.J. Hall are a few recent players who never even got to finish their first contracts with the team. However, the team is hoping to do a better job of finding them in the first round.
Las Vegas used the No. 7 pick in this year’s draft to select Tyree Wilson out of Texas Tech. The last time the Raiders used a top-10 pick on a pass rusher it was Clelin Ferrell, which didn’t work out. They’ll have to hope that Wilson will bring more upside and consistency to the position. The Raiders announced that they’ve officially signed the first-round pick to a deal.
Welcome to Vegas, @tyreewilson77! ✍️
Wilson was going to have to sign a contract eventually but signing him now ensures that there won’t be any questions heading into training camp. Some teams wait a while to sign their rookies but general manager Dave Ziegler has gotten ahead of getting most of them locked up.
DE Looking Like Position of Strength
The Raiders have holes all over the defense but the one group that is looking strong is defensive end. Maxx Crosby is one of the best defensive players in the league and is showing no signs of slowing down. Chandler Jones is coming off a bad year but is a four-time Pro Bowler and could still have juice left in the tank. The team is now adding an exciting rookie to the group in Wilson.
If Wilson turns out to be a good player, the Raiders will have a very good pass rush duo for a long time. The team clearly wants to build the defense from the front to the back. The linebacker corps and secondary need a lot of work but having a great pass rush certainly help masks those issues. It remains to be seen if the Raiders will have a dominant pass quite yet but they have the talent to terrorize quarterbacks on a regular basis. Much of that will depend on how Wilson performs as a rookie.