2. DT Maliek Collins
While there was plenty of turmoil going on in the linebacking corps and the secondary for the Raiders due to being shorthanded, the issues along the defensive line kind of got overshadowed. But they were no less a problem.
Consider that the Raiders spent the 4th overall pick on Clelin Ferrell and then played him inside, which was a terrible waste of his talent. I mean, he may not have been worthy of the 4th overall pick, but that doesn’t mean he’s not plenty talented as an edge rusher.
What the Raiders were hoping to do was get their best front four out there. If that meant Ferrell inside with Benson Mayowa rushing the edge, that’s what they did. They also wanted to see if they could get some pressure up the middle. The even signed Dion Jordan midseason and put him in the middle.
Well, they finally stopped messing around and got a real inside pass rusher. That’s what the 6-2, 308-pound Collins does. He gets in the backfield. If you can get pressure straight into the QB’s face, the play is usually over within a couple seconds. And then the QB has to test his luck against the edge rushers. Collins should make a major difference in the success of the Raiders’ defense.
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