With the sheer number of glaring needs the Raiders have, it can be easy to overlook certain positions. One such position is edge rusher where the Raiders had Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones.
Granted, Jones wasn’t lighting to world on fire much of last season, but with what he’s being paid, he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so adding Tyree Wilson with their pick at seven overall means they are hoping he will come in and contribute immediately.
“The more the merrier,” said Raiders GM Dave Ziegler on adding another pass rusher in Wilson. “His ability to disrupt. We talked about it before. We’d like to eventually develop over time a front that’s able to come in waves and you’re able to keep guys fresh. And I think that’s important in this day and age especially because we have quarterbacks that run around. Like Herbert can move around, Russell Wilson moves around, Pat (Mahomes), he can move around in his own way, so being able to have some guys that can disrupt the quarterback and have more guys that can do that in phases, if you will, is valuable.”
Adding a rotation of pass rushers is one thing. But the Raiders see Wilson as being able to play alongside Jones and Crosby in certain sets.
“We thought he was extremely versatile,” Raiders assistant GM Champ Kelly said of Wilson. “He played all across the front, so you can line up with Maxx and Chan and those guys and still find a role to help us rush the quarterback. We’ve even seen him dropping in some clips, so we’re excited about that too.”
You can bet the Raiders will try to get their new top pick on the field as often as possible and in any way they can.
The 6-5, 271-pounder got to the quarterback a lot over his last two seasons at Texas Tech. To the tune of 14 sacks combined despite missing three game last season. He also got in the backfield to make tackles for loss 28 times over that same span.
The Raiders were 30th in the league in team sacks. So, yeah, they’re hoping he can help them come up a bit in those ranking.
“You see a guy that’s 6-5, 35-inch arms, whose proven to have the ability to get to the quarterback from multiple spots,” said Kelly. “That’s just an exciting possibility.”
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