Raiders Defense

[Humble_Beast]

I never been so hopeful in our defense. I see a young, fast, potential on all levels on defense 

DE: Max, Ferrell, Koonce

DT: Irving, Thomas, Stills

LB: Littleton, Deablo, Morrow, Muse

CB: Mullen, Arnette, Douglas, Hobbs, Amik, Johnson

S: Abram, Moehrig, Gillespie

plus solid vets not even 30: Nassib, Hankins, Yannick, Joseph

plus Hayward....plus our best defensive coordinator since I can remember. I'm not expecting to be the Ravens, or Steelers but there is hope we can actually be average to decent. Guys in bold I think can be studs 

[Dessie]

Very hopeful we will have an improved defense, with all the changes and young players I’d expect improvement to show in latter part of the season. Might be a bumpy ride till then though. 

[Darbsk]

2 hours ago, Dessie said:

Very hopeful we will have an improved defense, with all the changes and young players I’d expect improvement to show in latter part of the season. Might be a bumpy ride till then though. 

I agree it would be probably too optimistic to expect early on we'll be that much improved over last year but isn't Gus Bradley known for getting young guys and rookies involved early and engineering a D that's relatively easy to pick up and play fast?

I thought those were his hallmarks and that might help a great deal with the curtailed off-season, lots of changes and lots of young players........ Very curious to see how it all unfolds...........

[Rich7sena]

Base/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // SLB: Morrow // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Arnette, Mullen // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette  // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Jefferson // 3T: Thomas // Rush Edge: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Morrow // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down (long)

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // 3T: Thomas // 3T: Ferrell // Rush Edge: Crosby // LB: Morrow // LB: Deablo  // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Edited May 6, 2021 by Rich7sena

[oakdb36]

What about Crosby?

[Darbsk]

1 hour ago, Rich7sena said:

Base/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // SLB: Morrow // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Arnette, Mullen // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette  // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Jefferson // 3T: Thomas // Rush Edge: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Morrow // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down (long)

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // 3T: Thomas // 3T: Ferrell // Rush Edge: Koonce // LB: Morrow // LB: Deablo  // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

I could see us in a Nickel or Dime package with a front 4 of Ngakoue / Irving / Thomas or Ferrell / Crosby which could be quite explosive.....

 

[Dessie]

3 hours ago, Rich7sena said:

Base/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // SLB: Morrow // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Arnette, Mullen // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/early down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Hankins // 3T: Jefferson // Base DE: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Littleton // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette  // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // NT: Jefferson // 3T: Thomas // Rush Edge: Ferrell // MLB: Kwiatkowski // WLB: Morrow // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Nickel/3rd down (long)

Rush Edge: Ngakoue // 3T: Thomas // 3T: Ferrell // Rush Edge: Koonce // LB: Morrow // LB: Deablo  // CB: Hayward, Mullen // SCB: Arnette // SS: Abram // FS: Moehrig

Where’s Crosby? I’d expect him to be in nickel as much as anyone tbh. If Deablo gets up to speed he could be used to mix up looks. Chinn for the Panthers would often be used as LB and Safety out of the same formation to cause confusion. 

[Rich7sena]

8 minutes ago, Dessie said:

Where’s Crosby? I’d expect him to be in nickel as much as anyone tbh. If Deablo gets up to speed he could be used to mix up looks. Chinn for the Panthers would often be used as LB and Safety out of the same formation to cause confusion. 

Forgot about Crosby. He would probably slot in instead of Koonce.

[ronjon1990]

11 hours ago, Dessie said:

Might be a bumpy ride till then though. 

My guess is a particularly bumpy ride, particularly in deep coverage and pass rush through the first bit of the year. 

Once FS (whoever they play there) gets comfortable, overall play should improve. If even one of our IDL can put consistent pressure on a QB, that would be outlook altering. 

If Bradley's system works to it's reputation, we should at least see a middle-of-the-road defense, which probably would've won us 10-11 games last year (possibly even more). 

If the offense can hold up it's part of the bargain, especially early on, there should be some hope for a 6th/7th seed appearance. 

We held up nicely against the Chiefs both times last year and looked really good against the Saints. If I had to pinpoint a concern, it's definitely going to be having like 9 new starters in total across both sides of the ball. Can't really form much more than a guess until we actually see them play. So yeah, I'd expect a bumpy road early on. 

[MrOaktown_56]

43 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

My guess is a particularly bumpy ride, particularly in deep coverage and pass rush through the first bit of the year. 

Once FS (whoever they play there) gets comfortable, overall play should improve. If even one of our IDL can put consistent pressure on a QB, that would be outlook altering. 

If Bradley's system works to it's reputation, we should at least see a middle-of-the-road defense, which probably would've won us 10-11 games last year (possibly even more). 

If the offense can hold up it's part of the bargain, especially early on, there should be some hope for a 6th/7th seed appearance. 

We held up nicely against the Chiefs both times last year and looked really good against the Saints. If I had to pinpoint a concern, it's definitely going to be having like 9 new starters in total across both sides of the ball. Can't really form much more than a guess until we actually see them play. So yeah, I'd expect a bumpy road early on. 

It's gonna be Moehrig. I think even early in his career he'll be a substantial upgrade over Harris, just based off of speed and ball skills.

My thing with the starters is that even though they'll need to gel, a lot of them are at positions where we performed very poorly last year.

Yannick improves our edge rotation.

Let's be honest, Moehrig as a rookie still is an improvement over Harris.

The DT situation is a wash, but we'll see.

WR: John Brown and Agholor are similar enough, even though I wanted Agholor back. Let's say mild downgrade.

The clearest downgrade is at C.

RT is a wash because it's hard to say that our scrubs + 4 games of trent brown will be definitively better than a talented (albeit unseasoned) rookie.

Plus adding other key pieces, like Drake, Hayward, etc. really can't hurt.

 

[ronjon1990]

1 hour ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

It's gonna be Moehrig. I think even early in his career he'll be a substantial upgrade over Harris, just based off of speed and ball skills.

My thing with the starters is that even though they'll need to gel, a lot of them are at positions where we performed very poorly last year.

Yannick improves our edge rotation.

Let's be honest, Moehrig as a rookie still is an improvement over Harris.

The DT situation is a wash, but we'll see.

WR: John Brown and Agholor are similar enough, even though I wanted Agholor back. Let's say mild downgrade.

The clearest downgrade is at C.

RT is a wash because it's hard to say that our scrubs + 4 games of trent brown will be definitively better than a talented (albeit unseasoned) rookie.

Plus adding other key pieces, like Drake, Hayward, etc. really can't hurt.

 

I imagine it'll be Moehrig for the bulk. Depending on the off season, I could see him splitting with Karl Joseph a little early, which is the only reason I mentioned it. Preferably, it'll be Moehrig from Day 1. 

DT is always a wash, I agree. 

WR, much as I wish we had bigger bodies, I can't necessarily call a downgrade at all (yet). I think Agholor has more upside than Brown, given age and such, but Agholor replicating last year is as much a ? as it is for most. Brown, at least, has been more consistent. 

C and RT....definitely a downgrade at C. No escaping that. RT almost has to be an upgrade, imo. Even if it's not an immediate impact upgrade, whatever we do at the position will (should) give us more clarity and a defined goal with where we're going. Young and Brown were incredibly useless, if not an absolute liability last year. One of those "can't go anywhere but up" situations to me. 

Drake and Hayward I am excited about. I thought we could've saved Jacobs and used Booker more last year, though with the O-line, who knows how much of a difference it would have actually made. Hayward, I expect to have a big role early on, and be a marked upgrade. 

[RaidersAreOne]

Funny how his highlights video is half interviews and half actual plays. The football starts at 5:51 btw. When he does hit someone it is freaking hard, no doubt about it. I wish he would play more controlled because he could be a fun player. No doubt he has a shorter leash after our recent S additions.

[MrOaktown_56]

15 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

Funny how his highlights video is half interviews and half actual plays. The football starts at 5:51 btw. When he does hit someone it is freaking hard, no doubt about it. I wish he would play more controlled because he could be a fun player. No doubt he has a shorter leash after our recent S additions.

I see his talent. He needs to realize he doesn't need to be the hero and just do his job. If he can do that, he can be a good strong safety for sure. HE has all the athleticism and the physical mentality you need to bring to a defense.

I remember how soft the team looked without him. Same with Cle, we really missed him in game 2 vs KC.

[MrOaktown_56]

Can't wait for Hayward to work with Arnette/Mullen. Listening to him talk, he can help make this defense better and get guys lined up.

[NYRaider]

6 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

Can't wait for Hayward to work with Arnette/Mullen. Listening to him talk, he can help make this defense better and get guys lined up.

Hayward was actually a very nice late signing, he has been PFF's highest rated CB since 2016 and knows the system. He's obviously older now but I think he can still be an above average starter for us.