There was just one player on the defensive side of the ball last year that the Raiders went big on early in free agency — Lamarcus Joyner. The veteran defensive back was added as the answer at nickel cornerback for the Raiders rebuilt defense. His first season in the defense ended up leaving more questions than answers.
He wasn’t alone, to be certain, but he also wasn’t any kind of exception to the overall struggles of the defense. But one statistic stands out most to head coach Jon Gruden.
“We got to tackle better and it starts with Joyner,” Gruden said Friday from training camp. “The nickel corner should be first or second on your team in tackles every year. That’s how it is in Guenther’s defense, so we need him to really get the ball on every single snap in our sub defense and be one of our top tacklers. That’s the number one criteria we’re looking for.”
There were six players on the Raiders defense last season who had more tackles than Joyner (49). Including three defensive backs. Heck, even nose tackle Johnathan Hankins had more tackles (50) than Joyner. That’s clearly not what Gruden expects from his top defensive addition and nickel cornerback.
How does Joyner go about improving upon his last year’s numbers? Well, another thing Gruden said when discussing Joyner was “Don’t try to go outside yourself to do something that the defense doesn’t ask you to do,”
Joyner seemed to echo that sentiment when I asked him about how he can go about improving his tackle numbers as along with simply knowing where he needs to be on any given play, he repeated “Just doing your job. Just doing your job,” which sounds like perhaps he was trying to do too much. Certainly a common problem when you’re a veteran surrounded by young and constantly rotating players as the Raiders defense went through last season.
“Nickel back position is like the general at the second level,” Joyner continued. “Not the third level with the safeties, but with the linebackers and understanding where the D-end and D-tackles fit in. It’s almost like you’re a cover guy and a linebacker, so you definitely have to be technique and fundamentally sound to be able to rack up those tackles.”
Joyner spent the first five years of his career with the Rams. Changing to a new system can require a transition period. He said this season feels like his second year in the league, which is to say last season felt a lot like his rookie year. His progress in his second year in this system is a big key to the success of this defense.