Last year's Oakland Raiders defense resembled a Dr Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde situation. They could make big plays as evidenced by being among the NFL leaders in tackles for loss and they could give up big plays as evidenced by being among the league leaders in big plays allowed. This lack of consistency was a significant problem all season.

The question becomes where do the Raiders need to shore up to disallow those big plays. The answers lie in a combination of breakdowns in fundamentals and out of place personnel. The raiders defense needs few player upgrades, but much more discipline.

The Raiders have needed to address the defensive tackle position for the past several offseasons. The combination of Gerard Warren and Tommy Kelly is not getting it done. The bulk of the big plays went right through the middle of the Raiders defense, which can be laid at the feet of the muddle in the middle. Desmond Bryant was solid as a rotational player, and a find as an undrafted free agent out of Harvard.

What the Raiders need is a wide body defensive tackle who is not necessarily going to rack up sacks or statistics, but is going to occupy multiple blockers and clog the running lanes to free up the other defensive linemen, as well as linebackers to make the plays. The Raiders have not won the war in the middle of the defensive trenches in years, and that is where the game is won and lost.

Linebacker

The Raiders have two finesse coverage linebackers in Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison. Beyond those two, the linebacking corps is filled with special teams players such as Jon Alston, Ricky Brown, Sam Williams, and Isaiah Ekejiuba. The play of the linebackers improved when defensive end Trevor Scott was stood up and moved to the outside.

What the Raiders need is a physical presence at linebacker. To borrow from reader DevonRaiderUK an “RB seeking missile.” Too many of Morrison's plays are five to ten yards past the line of scrimmage to be that presence.

Defensive Back

The Raiders are set for their starting back four. Mike Mitchell has shown flashes as a third safety for a big nickel type package. However, the Raiders need a quality third corner. Stanford Routt is inconsistent at best, and when he is off his game he is frequently burnt, flagged, or both. Jonathan Holland is listed as a corner, but should not even have a roster spot.

NOTES:

There was an interesting discussion in the comment box on Levi's mock draft regarding his pick of Rolando McClain.

Moshbucket: Saban has one of the most complex/versatile D's out there, constantly switching things up. McLain consistently adjusted the D calls based on what the O was doing at the line.

If you watch tape of our Defense this year, MANY MANY times we were running around not knowing how to line up as the ball was being snapped. We need a guy out there who knows what's going on and can run the D.

DevinRaiderUK: Nice to hear the flip side of the argument Moshbucket but hoping for a Rookie to come in and have a productive year is one thing, giving him the responsibility of the Defensive adjustments is asking a bit much. Surely the DC must shoulder the responsibility there, and you have to remember that it was Marshalls' first year so expect mistakes. I still dont think Marshall has been given full license (yet) to implement exactly what he wants. Al says we go 4-3, no blitzing and basically win the man to man match-ups. That's a very predictable set of handcuffs to work with.

My take: In the America's Game DVD presentation for the 1980 season, rookie linebacker Matt Millen too control of the defensive huddle and barked out the signals. He is credited by Hall of Fame teammates with getting that defense together.

ALSO SEE: Offensive Team Needs 2010

Comments (13)

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written by nilbymouth, February 01, 2010

I would like to see us move Seymour to DT if we cannot land a good DT either via free agency or the draft. In FA Tony Brown or Aubrayo Franklin would be a good pickup or McCoy via the draft. But a front starting four of Shaughnessy and Ellis at DE, and Seymour and Kelly at DT.

For LB I would like us to try and make a move for Karlos Dansby, Barrett Ruud or Larry Foote.

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written by ochoorner, February 01, 2010

i agree it would be awesome to pick up a good defensive end and move seymour in to DT. i think we should also not worry about morrison i think he is good but as a raider your right all his plays are 5 to ten yards past the line. i think keeping howard would great moving him back to weak side and then moving mike mitchell to linebacker i think his size speed and how he loves to hit would be amazing there and keep branch and huff back deep perfect lineup here man tell me what you think about the mitchell situation. good post

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Mitchell@LB
written by e.gami, February 01, 2010

I like ochoorner's idea- though I don't know that we will see this shuffle happen. Coaches all have their own ideas on who will do what role the best.

I personally think having howard morrison mitchell in for 3LB sets would be great- mitchell would be too small to be mlb, but could be OLB in those scenarios.

During nickel packages I would slide Mitchell back to Huff's S position and bring Huff up to be our nickel corner.

Putting Seymour in the middle is a good idea aswell,

21 33 24 37 back four
53 52 34 lb core
99 93 92 91/77 front four

Of course we are all talking like we are going to Re-sign Howard, Morrison, and Seymour. I hope we retain all three, but who knows what we will actually do.

I would also like to pickup some FA DL help for depth if nothing else

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written by nilbymouth, February 01, 2010

I think Scott deserves the chance to retain his LB position. He performed well at LB and with a full off-season to get better acquainted at LB would be great for him.

The problem I see with moving Mitchell to LB would be would just be another Howard and Morrison.I say we keep Mitchell at Safety as he has been playing and special teams for this season. I could be mistaken but I think Huff is going to be in the last year of his contract, so we may need another safety soon. I also lke the idea of moving Huff to nickle and Mitchell to FS as e.gami said also.

I don't think we will be keeping both Morrison and Howard, and we don't need both either. Scott at strong, Morrison/Howard at weak, and a new MLB either via the draft or FA.

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2nd coming of Matt Millen? Oh Yeah!!!
written by DevonRaiderUK, February 01, 2010

I Haven't seen that 1980 Americas Game yet Pat but it sounds a great night in with a few cold ones- I'll suggest it to the girlfriend as an extra special Valentines evening.

I'd love to have a Millen type monster back there right now. I can remember the days of listening to Armed Forces Radio must be about 1987. Dallas were camped on the 1 yard line and the commentator went mental as Millen met Herschel Walker at the top of the pile and stuffed him. Great stuff

Yep, I can also see Mitchell as a LB coz he definitely likes the physical stuff, but he's not the thug in the middle we need.

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defense
written by D20, February 01, 2010

Seymour, Howard, and, Morrison need to be resigned. We need a big name in the middle Dansby would be awesome or AJ Hawk if the packers let him go. We also need a DE from FA so Seymour can move inside and make our d-line way better against the run. We do needed a nickel corner but im pretty sure Davis will take care of that in later rounds of the draft.

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written by nilbymouth, February 02, 2010

I would love to be able to land Dansby. Hawk I feel is a little over rated. Rudd from the Bucs would also be a good pickup if we could.

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written by JB, February 02, 2010

I can't see Mitchell playing OLB. Teams would pull O-linemen on every run play and throw his 220lbs out of the way. I can't see putting him in that much punishment with 320lbs guys on every play. I like the 3-man rotation at safety. Boyd could develop from the practice squad too, giving us 4 quality safeties. Watching the senior bowl, OLB Washington was looking like a few years of hitting the weights to becoming a beast at any LB position.

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written by Demon Raider, February 04, 2010

I say retain Morrison and Howard but move Morrison to SAM and draft McClain at 8 or maybe Washington will fall to the 3rd round to play MIKE. Howard is the best option for WILL. If Oakland can find some way to trade down to 15-20th overall, they'd still have a great chance to land a very good DT or OT cuz Mt. Cody, Dan Williams, Brian Price, Trent Williams, Bruce Campbell, and Brian Bulaga have a almost for sure shot at still being on the board not to mention the extra 2nd that we'd likely get for trading down. We're pretty solid at DE with Seymour, Ellis, Scott, and Shuanessy. A new CBA not happening would really limit our ability to sign FA's. I feel that the best free agents for us to get are:
DT Vince Wilfork, UFA
NT Casey Hampton, UFA
DT Barry Cofield, RFA (UFA if there's a new CBA)
MLB Barrett Ruud, RFA (UFA if there's a new CBA)
MLB D'Qwell Jackson, RFA (UFA if there's a new CBA)
DB Dunta Robinson, UFA
DB Richard Marshall, RFA (UFA if there's a new CBA)

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written by Demon Raider, February 04, 2010

I like being able to move Seymour around like we did with Howie....

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DT Terrence Cody, Alabama
written by yikey, February 16, 2010

We need an anchor his stats in the production of his defensive teammates the reason why McClain had so many tackles.Draft him and the floodgates will open.6'5" 360 demands 2 to 3 blockers.The Raiders must do this.
When the Raiders whent to the Superbowl last the D was anchored by the massive Sam Adams and the freakishly strong John Perrella.Tackles that can eat up blocks instead of passing them on for the big play,with the athleticism behind all of that.We could do what ever we want.

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written by yikey, February 16, 2010

Dunta is too soft.remember what Chaz did to him coming of the line in week 16 2008.I don't want that on my ball team.By the way its time to get rid of Eugene.No Raider safety should be getting knocked on his ass with just a mere swing of an arm like McGahee did to him.

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...Continued
written by WhoKnows, February 23, 2010

I love all of these ideas, especially the creativity of the Mike Mitchell LB idea. Unfortunately, like JB said, he is too small most likely for even an OLB position as he would have a hard time shedding OL. I loved the three man safety rotation, and we could easily bring Mitchell up in the box or move him back, and Huff did great as a situational safety. We definitely need a stout DT who is unconcerned with stats, but just fills the run lanes. We then could draft a Mike LB and move Morrison to OLB with Howard, or keep Morrison in the Middle and draft an OLB. I think Navarro Bowman (aside from his off the field issues) is a very promising OLB prospect if he is around in the 2nd round or Utah's Koa Misi who is a physical freak. Trevor Scott is great, and could make the transition to OLB, but I think he should be kept at defensive end if we nab a promising LB in the draft. Any thoughts????

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