No defense came out of the 2023 season hotter than the one the Raiders were fielding. Over the stretch run under interim head coach Antonio Pierce, they were the best defense in football.
Then come 2024 it all fell apart.
The issues started before the season began and injuries were part of the problem.
A prominent role in the resurgent defense was Malcolm Koonce who had eight sacks in the final nine games coming off the left edge. And just prior to the start of the season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury that would require surgery.
His spot has been filled by a committee of four different edge rushers this season who have as many sacks combined (eight) in 13 games as Koonce had alone in the previous nine games.
Soon the Raiders would be without both their starting edge rushers. In week a week two win in Baltimore, All Pro Maxx Crosby would suffer a high ankle sprain that hobbled him in an ugly loss to the Panthers and then cost him the first game of his career. He would return the following week, but it was clear he was fighting through the pain each week since then. More on that later.
Another major piece to the Raiders strong defense last season was new safety Marcus Epps. Three games into what was to be a contract year for him in 2024, Epps was lost to an ACL injury. He has been replaced by Isaiah Pola-Mao and there has been a noticeable drop off in safety play as a result.
The biggest splash free agent addition in the NFL was the Raiders landing defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. He was supposed to complete the Raiders defensive line and make a formidable one-two punch with Maxx Crosby. Five games into the season, he went down with a broken foot and was lost for the season.
Adam Butler has done well stepping into a more prominent role, though it’s hard not to imagine how much better the line would be had he been able to team up with Wilkins. In just five games, the Pro Bowler had 11 solo tackles, which is *still* second most on the team among interior defensive linemen despite being without him for two months.
At the same time, starting linebacker Divine Deablo was in the midst of a three-game stint on the inactive list. Then backup Luke Masterson got injured too, leading to the team starting fifth round rookie Tommy Eichenberg.
Midway through the season, the cornerbacks went from healthy to nearly wiped out in an instant. Week nine in Cincinnati, just prior to the bye week, the team simultaneously lost starting cornerbacks Jakorian Bennett and Nate Hobbs. Bennett is lost for the season with a shoulder injury and Hobbs’s ankle injury has had him out for the equivalent of a trip to injured reserve and is finally set to return this week.
There. was even a couple games there where the Raiders had no starting safeties on the field. Jack Jones got banged up as well and the Raiders had all reserves on the field, with no cornerbacks left on the roster should one of them go down with injury.
Which brings us to the most devastating injury news this team could have — Maxx Crosby is done for the season.
Crosby had done well to put his ankle injury behind him. Then last Sunday in Tampa, he got rolled up on again and re-injured it. This time there was no fighting through it. For the sake of his own long term health — and with the team long since eliminated from playoff contention — he shut it down and opted to have surgery.
That means more than half of the team’s starting defense has either been placed on injured reserve, or — in the case of Hobbs — spent the equivalent of a trip to IR sidelined this season.
Based on the way the Raiders have played overall this season, the defense probably wouldn’t have been able to save them. Particularly with regard to the play at quarterback. But it could offer some hope that should the bulk of those players return next season — presumably with a better QB — this team could bounce back quickly.
