Raiders re-sign John Jenkins, filling a hole at defensive tackle that will give them one of the best DL in the NFL

While Josh McDaniels was still running the Las Vegas Raiders last season, the defense was bad. He did not let defensive coordinator Patrick Graham call the defense the way Graham wanted it. Once he was fired, the defense turned everything up a notch.

So, for the first half of the season, many of the conversations surrounding the defense were that Maxx Crosby, one of the best defensive players in the league, didn't have any help up front. Then, of course, the Raiders got really good, and defensive end Malcolm Koonce turned it up, too.

The defensive tackle position was still one of the weaker ones on the team. They jogged out guys like Bilal Nichols, Mathew Butler, Adam Butler, Jerry Tillery, and John Jenkins out there. They managed to do what they could. However, the defensive line situation looks much better after bringing in defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on a big contract to play the role of a top-five defensive tackle in the league.

The Raiders recently made a few moves to add to that. Earlier this week, the Raiders brought back defensive tackle Adam Butler and now John Jenkins, both on one-year deals. Sure, we just gave them a backhanded comp, but that was before the two were playing beside Wilkins. With those two as DT2, not the primary defensive tackles, everything looks much better.

Now, you also add Tyree Wilson, who was a rookie last season and started to get better as the season went on. He missed nearly all of training camp as he suffered a foot injury and was thrown into a very difficult situation, with Chandler Jones being let go. Now, the Raiders have plans for him to develop behind Koonce as that EDGE 3 guy and maybe play inside at defensive tackle on obvious passing downs like they did last season.