The overall problem with the Oakland Raiders Defense is it consists of too many players who would rank as not particularly outstanding, and over the aging period where you should expect championship level performance. In all of the modern history of the NFL, or since the rules were changed to liberalize the passing game, younger teams have won and directed their teams to the Super Bowl far more often than not. The 2001 New England Patriots, the 2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the 2013 Seattle Seahawk are great examples of my point. Young teams with excellent defensive schemes and talent win. It’s the general managers job to keep the roster young.
With that, my objective in NFL Free Agency is to land players who are at or less than 27 years old and are linebackers, first priority.
With that in mind, I am going to bring in Brandon Spikes, to start. The highest ranking linebacker is also a perfect Raiders pickup. He was placed on injured reserve for reasons that boil down to New England Head Coach Bill Belichick being so strict he’s psycho. Spikes played all of 2013 with a knee injury – thus the Raiders would be getting him as he returns to full health. Plus, he’s just 26 years old, so there’s still an upside to the play of this SEC star with Florida.
Brandon Spikes is a middle or inside linebacker type who would be great in a hybrid 3-4 that behaves like a 4-3. To get the perfect outside linebacker / defensive end to help, I’m next going to bring in Mike Neal from the Green Bay Packers.
Mike Neal is just 27 years old, and lost 30 pounds so he could effectively play outside linebacker, and yet still rush the passer. Mr. Neal had 47 tackles, five sacks, and an interception in 2013.
To round out my rebuild, I’m going after Earl Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell emerged as a starter for the Houston Texans, and while he’s listed as a nose tackle, I see him as more of an under-tackle in a scheme not unlike the one used by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, where the two defensive tackles were nose-up on the center.
Earl Mitchell is 6-3 and 300 pounds, but he runs a 4.7 40-yard dash and is cat quick. He’s not the guy you ask to two-gap; you give him one gap, and then force the offensive line to double team him, thus causing great problems for that offense. Adding Mitchell would be an instant upgrade in the Oakland Raiders roster of defensive tackles.
So that’s my range of picks: Brandon Spikes, Mike Neal, and Earl Mitchell. They’re all young, fast, and hungry – they have something to prove.
I’ll rebuild the Raiders Defense around them, and then move to get other young stars in the NFL Draft, and yes, that means I’d trade down out of that five spot and bring in more defenders.
Defense wins championships.
Stay tuned.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.