A familiar face is back in the building for the Raiders. Kyle Wilber spent three seasons with the Raiders from 2018-20. He was not brought back this season and now returns to help the Raiders who are shorthanded at the linebacker spot.
For interim head coach Rich Bisaccia their familiarity goes back a lot farther. Wilber is a longtime special teams maven and was a captain on special teams for the Raiders.
Bisaccia was the special teams coach in Dallas from 2013-17. That entire time, he had Wilber leading his squad. And when he came to Oakland in 2018, Wilber came with him.
Wilber wasn’t on a roster, so he was just waiting for a call and he got it from the man who knows him best.
The Raiders also signed LB Justin March-Lillard.
The sudden need for linebackers comes from the fact that they placed five of them on the reserve/COVID-19 list this week. Combine that with Nicholas Morrow and Nick Kwiatkoski both being on injured reserve and practice squad LB Javin White getting signed away by the Jets, and the Raiders are downright desperate at the position.
Other than Wilber and March-Lillard, the only active Raiders linebackers on the roster are Marquel Lee and rookie Divine Deablo.
The Raiders also added LB Asmar Bilal to the practice squad today.