Raiders Host Reveals New Defensive Twist at Training Camp: “Not Anything That We Ever Saw Last Year”

The Raiders were fortunate to bring back Patrick Graham as their defensive coordinator for 2025, but Graham’s presence doesn’t mean the defense isn’t going to have Pete Carroll’s fingerprints on it.

Carroll built the legendary ‘Legion of Boom’ in Seattle and there will be elements of that defense in Las Vegas with Carroll in charge.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore shared his observations from Raiders’ camp on Wednesday, and he mentioned a scheme twist he never saw from Patrick Graham’s defense a year ago.

“Elandon Roberts, Devin White and Germaine [Pratt] were on the field consistently together when they were in their base defense,” Bonsignore said on the Vegas Nation podcast. “It kind of reminded me of his little four-under that he ran in Seattle.”

“Just to visualize this or to paint a picture of this, Elandon Roberts and Devin White were the ‘mike’ and the ‘will’ lined up kind of next to each other, and Germaine was lined up a lot of the times closer to the line of scrimmage, if not at the line of scrimmage, upright, either setting an edge, rushing the passer or dropping back in coverage or going and playing some run defense,” Bonsignore continued.

“So, not anything that we ever saw last year, or certainly in minicamp, but it’s pretty obvious that Germaine is going to have a role here, and there really are going to be three linebackers on the field quite a bit.”

Bonsignore’s co-host on the show, Adam Hill, was also at camp and he commented on some of the bigger safeties the Raiders’ coaching staff has been moving around at practice.

“I don’t think anybody’s going to say ‘Oh, this is what they’re going to play all year… obviously, they’re going to play a lot of different things, and often you saw Pratt come out and Jeremy Chinn kind of moving up into the box, and Lonnie Johnson back going for him,” Hill said.

“Back as a deep safety, so you’d be a boring nickel with Jeremy Chinn playing more of a, you know, hybrid type linebacker slash slot role. Jamal Adams, at times on the field too. [He] wasn’t out there a whole lot [but] was out there a little bit in that role as well.”

Adams is a former All Pro and has a history with Carroll, but The Athletic’s Tashan Reed believes his signing with the Raiders might have been mostly about depth.

“Jamal Adams signing was a little surprising. Just looking at their roster, the [Raiders] definitely have some areas that would stand out as needs, but I didn’t really think safety would be one,” Reed said on the Just Win podcast. “I think they’re pretty confident in that starting duo of Jeremy Chen, who he just signed early this offseason, and Isaiah Pullman, who started out as a necessity last year, but I think he was pretty solid, all things considered, in that free safety role.”

“Adams obviously has that connection to Pete Carroll, played for him for years with the Seattle Seahawks, but he’s had a rough go of it the last few years,” Reed continued. “This is his third different team since 2024. He lost a lot of that special ability that made him an All-Pro player earlier in his career. His body just hasn’t been able to hold up.”

“At this point, he’s more of a box safety only, I would say, if you want to use him in the best way, almost as a lighter linebacker who can also blitz off the edge. Jeremy Chin can do a lot of that stuff. That’s what makes me think this is more like a third safety signing… If he is able to perform throughout training camp and make the team ultimately. At first, it kind of surprised me, but I think the more I thought about it, it kind of makes more sense.”

Adams will turn 30 in October, and if he’s finally healthy, the Raiders will be happy to get a version of the veteran safety that looks anything like he did in 2020, when he recorded 83 tackles and 9.5 sacks.

x: @raidersbeat