Raiders’ veterans have shined on defense…
The Raiders shocked the league with their undefeated start to the season and one of the most encouraging details to their 3-0 start has been the play of Rob Leonard’s defense.
Leonard was one of the few carryovers from last year’s coaching staff and while it wasn’t a surprise that Klint Kubiak wanted to retain him, it was a gamble on Kubiak’s part to go into the season with a first-time defensive coordinator who he had never worked with before this year.
After years of inconsistency on defense, Leonard has managed to scheme a pass rush that doesn’t rely entirely on Maxx Crosby, and the Raiders’ secondary hasn’t played this well in more than a decade.
Through three games, the Raiders haven’t given up a point in the fourth quarter and there is a long list of players who have stepped up to make that possible.
Every week, Pro Football Focus drops game grades for each player on the roster, and while PFF shouldn’t be considered the standard for evaluating players and performances, it’s interesting to see how they evaluate players on a week-to-week basis.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top three defensive players on the Raiders’ roster through the first three games of the season…
Malcolm Koonce – PFF Grade: 75.4
The coaching staff has reduced Koonce’s role to essentially pass rushing situations only and he has been on the field for just under half of the Raiders’ defensive snaps this season.
74 percent of Koonce’s 92 defensive snaps have been passing plays, and he has 2.5 sacks on the season. Just as important as those sacks was a quarterback pressure against the Saints that led to a Hezekiah Masses interception.
According to Pro Football Focus, Koonce is winning on 17.9 percent of his pass rushes, which is only slightly below Maxx Crosby (19.8) on the season.
Nakobe Dean – PFF Grade: 84.5
Dean and Tyler Linderbaum were two of the best free agent acquisitions the Raiders have pulled off in years.
GM John Spytek stole Dean from the Cowboys and a report earlier in the offseason said the Commanders believed they had a deal in place with Linderbaum prior to him agreeing to a record contract with the Raiders.
No one on the Raider defense is playing at a higher level than Dean right now. He has sacks (1.5), tackles (27), tackles for loss (3.5), forced fumbles (3) and PFF credits him with 14 stops – which they define as a tackle that constitutes a “failure” for the offense. The next closest Raider to Dean in stops is Quay Walker with six.
Without Dean’s leadership and playmaking abilities, the Raiders wouldn’t be undefeated and former Raiders’ wide receiver James Jones believes they have the best linebacker duo in the league with Dean and Walker.
Maxx Crosby – PFF Grade: 89.8
Crosby has 1.5 sacks through three games and that is a low number by his standards.
But the impact Crosby has made in all three games this year is undeniable. With defenses keying on Crosby, players like Dean, Walker and Koonce have been able to make their mark – all while Crosby has been dominating by many advanced metrics.
Crosby is winning on 19.8 percent of his pass rushes and has the fifth-most quarterback pressures in the league (17), according to Pro Football Focus. He has narrowly missed on a couple of sacks, so expect Crosby’s sack totals to make a jump sooner than later.
Maybe most importantly of all, Crosby appears to be healthy after major surgery on his knee in January.
It’s still early in the season, and the Raiders have a brutal schedule coming in October, but for the first time in a long time, there’s a lot be excited about in Vegas on the defensive side of the ball.
x: @raidersbeat
Maxx is still the focal point of opponents. Glad we have him