The Raiders completely overhauled their linebacker room in the offseason and one of the key additions to the group was former Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean.
Dean signed a three-year, $36 million deal with the Raiders in March, but to this point he hasn’t been on the field for offseason activities.
The good news is that Dean has not been absent (he isn’t skipping workouts), but the not-so-good news is that it sounds like he is already dealing with some kind of ailment – which has been familiar territory for Dean to this point in his career.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers talked about Dean’s situation on Friday and confirmed that the 25-year-old linebacker has been in the building.
“I mean, he’s been in the building and obviously there’s something that he’s dealing with that they’re trying to work with him and get him to the training camp, get him to where he needs to be. They seem like they’re pretty happy with him,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
But Myers said he wonders about a player like Dean already landing on the injured list.
“When there’s a guy like Nakobe Dean, who’s had a history of injuries, to me it’s a concern. But that’s just me,” Myers continued.
“Alex Guerrero… [has] got a plan for him. The staff has a plan for him, so they’re working to get him where he needs to be. But like I said, when a guy has the injury history that Nakobe Dean does have, that does bring up a red flag for me. It’s like, okay, definitely want to pay attention to that. Now they’ve got 40 days before they get out there to training camp. So we’ll see what happens. But the good thing is, it’s not like he wasn’t in the building, not like he wasn’t putting in the work.”
Head coach Klint Kubiak said this week that the plan is to have Dean at full strength for training camp and every indication is that Dean is on track to be ready by the start of camp.
x: @raidersbeat