Raiders’ Third-Round Rookie Made a Surprising Impact in his NFL Debut Against the WFT

Lost in the drama surrounding the Raiders over the last few months has been the absence of third-round pick Malcolm Koonce.

Through the first 11 games of the season, Koonce didn’t see the field once. He was not even activated for a game until Sunday, but he made up for lost time right away against the Washington Football Team.

The former University of Buffalo star saw seven defensive snaps against the WFT and he rushed the quarterback on only 3 of those snaps (the other four plays were runs). Nevertheless, Koonce had two pass rushes in 3 opportunities that made a strong impression on film.

Most notably, Koonce had the Raiders only sack of the game – a bull rush that caught WFT left tackle Charles Leno by surprise. Rookies that have been on the inactive list all year aren’t supposed to do work like this (below) on a veteran left tackle.

Ryan Holmes, MBA on Twitter: “Malcolm Koonce registers his 1st career sack. Speed to power with explosive 1st step into bull rush, drives back LT, gets inside hand free to bring down the QB. Divine Deablo did nice job carrying # 3 vertical from sideline angle on this play.#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/DWDemGCeLC / Twitter”

Malcolm Koonce registers his 1st career sack. Speed to power with explosive 1st step into bull rush, drives back LT, gets inside hand free to bring down the QB. Divine Deablo did nice job carrying # 3 vertical from sideline angle on this play.#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/DWDemGCeLC

As impressive as the sack was, the better rep from Koonce might have come earlier in the game on the first snap of his career.

Koonce kept his run responsibilities on a play-action pass and still got to WFT quarterback Taylor Heinicke quickly enough to hurry an incomplete pass.

Ryan Holmes, MBA on Twitter: “Nice rep on 1st snap of career for rookie Malcolm Koonce. Stands up TE, locks out, reads play-action, disengages/sheds, burst upfield, dips shoulder on pulling C, shows bend.#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/yYCnOtnBha / Twitter”

Nice rep on 1st snap of career for rookie Malcolm Koonce. Stands up TE, locks out, reads play-action, disengages/sheds, burst upfield, dips shoulder on pulling C, shows bend.#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/yYCnOtnBha

With Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue at the top of the depth chart, reps for Koonce on the edge won’t be easy to come by.

But as a wise man once said…

Good pass rushers are hard to come by and you can never have too many.

twitter: @raidersbeat

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