The Raiders have gone through some turnover at linebacker over the past two offseasons. Most recently, two-year starter Denzel Perryman relocated — to Houston — despite Las Vegas being interested in another deal.
Jayon Brown also played out his one-year contract last season, leaving Divine Deablo as the team’s lone returning second-level regular. The team did sign Robert Spillane in March and used a sixth-round pick on Amari Burney. But the prospect of another veteran addition has been on the Las Vegas radar for a bit now.
The team is looking into that prospect Wednesday, with The Score’s Jordan Schultz noting Jaylon Smith is in Vegas today for a workout. The former Cowboys starter spent last season with the Giants, starting 11 games to run his career start count to 69. Smith made 88 tackles and recovered a fumble last season, which was an unstable year for the Giants at linebacker. Pro Football Focus graded Smith as the No. 60 overall off-ball ‘backer in 2022.
Smith lost his starting spot in Dallas early during the 2021 season and ended up being released. His profile has taken a hit over the past two years, coming after the Cowboys gave the Notre Dame alum a big-ticket extension in 2019. Dallas signed Smith to a six-year, $68.4M re-up during the 2019 offseason. Fond of long-running contracts, the Cowboys cut bait two seasons into that deal. Smith finished the 2020 season with a career-high 154 tackles, completing his second straight season with 140-plus stops.
Raiders DC Patrick Graham coached Smith, 28, briefly during his Giants tenure. The Giants took a flier on the former second-round pick during the 2021 season after both the Cowboys and Packers cut him. Smith ended up re-signing with the Giants in September 2022, rising from the practice squad into a starting role. The Giants had cut Blake Martinez, who soon signed with the Raiders before retiring in-season (to go full throttle with an evidently lucrative side hustle), and seen Darrian Beavers suffer an ACL tear in the preseason. Beavers is now healthy, and the Giants have Bobby Okereke anchoring their ILB corps.
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