Raiders Confident in Group That is a Work in Progress

Few teams in the National Football League made as many changes as the Las Vegas Raiders have this offseason. Las Vegas will replace half of its defensive starters from last season. They have also made significant changes on offense that should elevate the team.

The Raiders not only lost many of their starters, but several of those players were critical pieces for Las Vegas, leading to many questions about the fate of the Raiders' defense this upcoming season.

The Silver and Black enter the upcoming season with their offense largely figured out, but needing to iron a few things out on the defensive side of the ball. Trying to replace so many starters on one unit at the same time is difficult for any team.

The Raiders added more than a few linebackers this season in hopes of finding a quality group.

Heading into training camp, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll noted that although the Raiders' group of linebackers is a work in progress, he likes what he has seen from the unit so far this offseason. Carroll also explained what the Raiders' new linebackers do well.

"And I'm really impressed with what Elandon Roberts has brought us in terms of leadership and guidance and mentality and all of that. And so, we're kind of feeding off of him a little bit. I'm anxious to see how that spreads with Devin White and Germaine [Pratt] coming in and those guys at the linebacker spot. It's a pretty exciting group," Carroll said.

"There's a bunch of hard-nosed, tough guys, and I want to see how they affect the rest of us. Let me just keep going. I'm fired up about the back end. We're really athletic, we're really fast, and we're big. And it's an impressive-looking group. I can't remember ever having a group that looks more impressive than this group. How we blend that together is what a defensive coordinator, defensive coach dreams about, you know? And this is going to be an exciting challenge for us."

The Raiders have enough serviceable talent at the linebacker position to be more competitive this upcoming season. However, it will be hard to replicate what Robert Spillane did for the Raiders over the past two seasons and Divine Deablo's skill set.

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