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After a healthy offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders are starting to face some injury issues. Defensive end Malcolm Koonce has already been placed on Injured Reserve and Tyree Wilson was forced to leave the Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Chargers early due to a knee injury.
With defensive end depth taking a hit, the Raiders have decided to sign K’Lavon Chaisson, according to a September 10 X post from NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
Chaisson first came into the NFL as a first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020. He wasn’t able to make much of an impact with the team as he only had 5.0 sacks in four seasons. He moved on to the Carolina Panthers this offseason but was cut before the season started.
Most of Chaisson’s experience as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense but the Raiders will likely ask him to play more defensive end. He’s not going to bring much of a pass rush. Even in college, he only had 9.5 sacks in three seasons. He’s a very good athlete, which is why he was a first-round pick, has not been able to become an impact player at the NFL level. The Raiders have to be hoping there’s some untapped potential there.
Are Las Vegas Raiders Done Addressing DE?
Based on his career statistics, it’s difficult to see how Chaisson moves the needle for the Raiders. He’s never had a Pro Football Focus grade of over 60.0 and the Jaguars only had him start 11 games in four seasons.
Now, Chaisson is only 25 so there’s still room for him to grow but he might not make much of an impact early on. If Wilson is joining Koonce on the IR, the Raiders may want to consider adding another defensive end. Yannick Ngakoue is still a free agent and he’s a much more productive pass rusher who led Las Vegas with 10.0 sacks in 2021.
Veterans like Charles Harris and Shaq Lawson are also available. The Raiders need the defense to perform well if they hope to compete for a playoff spot this season but that will be difficult if Maxx Crosby is the only player providing a consistent pass rush.
Antonio Pierce Talks Positives From Week 1
It was a rough Week 1 for the Raiders as they lost 22-10 to the Chargers. However, it wasn’t all bad news. Head coach Antonio Pierce highlighted some of the good things he saw in the season opener.
“Defensively, I will start off, I mean, we got out of the gates very fast,” Pierce said during his September 9 press conference. “Just like we wanted to. Patrick called the game aggressively.
“We got after it. We hit the quarterback, we were affecting the quarterback, we pressured the quarterback. We were really good on third downs, in the red zone defense. Run defense 85 yards in the first half. We were playing the kind of game we wanted. You know full-court defense, half-court offense. … Special teams, I thought we made some plays here. We did a good job on number 12. I thought we pinned him back. … Offensively, you know, we will make an explosive play, and there will be a negative. … And to be honest man, you want to get the run game going. … The ability to run the ball, that is critical late in ball games.”
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