We made it! The long road from the offseason to the regular season is finally over, and our reward is getting to watch some Las Vegas Raiders football! Week 1 brings an interesting matchup for the Raiders, squaring off against the New England Patriots and several familiar faces.
But before that, we have this week’s mailbag to get to.
Q: How do you hide your linebackers in coverage and stop teams from targeting Elandon Roberts and Devin White with play-action on early downs? Kyle Shanahan laid out a blueprint on how to move the ball against the Raiders’ defense.
A: Besides simply taking them off the field and heavily leaning on nickel (five defensive backs, two linebackers) and/or dime (six defensive backs, one linebacker) personnel, the easiest way (in my opinion) is to run a lot of Cover 1. That way, at least one of the linebackers is the low-hole defender, meaning their primary responsibility is to support the defensive backs on any throws to the middle of the field, rather than be responsible for covering a man or area of the field by themselves.
Granted, unless the defense is in dime, there still will be one linebacker who is in man coverage. But typically, that will be against a running back who is on a checkdown route or stays in the backfield for pass protection. Teams that run a lot of wheel routes out of the backfield or have a back that’s heavily involved in the passing game can still exploit that matchup, though.
So, Cover 1 isn’t a perfect solution, but you’re at least minimizing the risk. Also, the defense has to have defensive backs who can be sticky in coverage consistently, which is hard to do/find.
The other way to hide linebackers in coverage is by muddying the pre-snap look for the quarterback. That can be achieved by having the backers line up on the line of scrimmage, so they must be accounted for in the protection scheme. Then, they can drop into coverage or rush the passer with someone else, like an edge rusher, dropping into coverage. In other words, a simulated pressure.
Also, simply disguising the coverage by showing a two-safety look pre-snap and rotating to one-high post-snap, or vice versa. Basically, changing the picture on the quarterback or mixing things up so that he has to think and read the defense on the fly, rather than knowing where he can go with the ball before it’s snapped. I think this will be the strategy for Pete Carroll and Patrick Graham this season, given that the Raiders’ secondary also has question marks.
Q: Which linebackers do you expect to play on passing downs?
A: That’s a good question, and one I’m curious about, too. My best guess would be Geramine Pratt and Jamal Adams, with Devin White mixed in as a potential pass-rusher/blitzer.
Using the Cover 1 example above, Pratt can be decent at helping take away the middle of the field by making plays on the ball, since that’s what he did in 2022 when he had 10 passes defended for the Bengals. Obviously, that was a few years ago, though, and he doesn’t have the same movement skills that he used to have. Meanwhile, Adams’ background as a safety can help him match up against running backs.
Pratt could get picked on in the middle of the field in zone coverage, but he’s the Raiders’ best option at MIKE on passing downs, unless they get into dime personnel and put Adams there. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if Graham tries to use White and Adams as pass-rush threats with the simulated pressures mentioned above.
Q: With much of the attention on the CB2 spot in the secondary, there has not been much talk of Darnay Holmes filling in at Nickel. I’m very interested in what he’s looked like all camp/preseason. It seems like the coaching staff’s first choice was going to be to move Jeremy Chinn into the big nickel before the injury to Lonnie Johnson. Has Holmes been running with the 1s at Nickel all summer? Has he gotten many reps outside?
A: Hey, I’ve been pounding the table for a while that Las Vegas should address the nickel spot and find an upgrade over Holmes! LOL.
I wasn’t at training camp, so I can’t speak to how Holmes looked there. But I will say it wasn’t as if he was generating a lot of buzz, and the beat reporters who are at practice will focus on who is standing out that time of year.
In the preseason, I’d say he was more neutral than good or bad. For example, Pro Football Focus had Holmes playing 38 snaps across all three games and only getting targeted twice while making one tackle and recording one pressure. Both targets went for incompletions, though, so there’s that.
Ultimately, how the Raiders are going to approach the nickelback/slot corner position is another question mark and will be something to monitor throughout the season.
A: Cornerback is going to be the biggest liability to me. It’s a lot of young guys and Eric Stokes, so Pete Carroll is putting a lot of faith in his ability to get the most out of that position. Carroll has the track record to get some leway with that heading into the season, but the position group definitely warrants skepticism.
I think most people are expecting the defensive end spot to be strong with Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce, so I’ll go with safety for surprisingly strong.
Jeremy Chinn is already a quality player and, while I’m not sold on the guy, Isaiah Pola-Mao has shown some promise to take the next step in what will be his second year as a starter. Also, I’m not ready to give up on Chris Smith II and think he could take a leap this year after having a solid preseason.
Q: A follow-up on all the “why didn’t they show patience with Tommy Mellott” questions: Why were they determined to play him only as a wide receiver instead of putting him in more of a “Joker” role a la Taysom Hill? Seems like he would’ve been a great triple threat to run, pass or catch, and we keep hearing how creative Chip Kelly can be.
A: Unfortunately, that’s another question I wish I had a better answer for. If I had to guess, the coaching staff didn’t want to throw too much at Mellott since he’s a rookie making the jump from the FCS to the NFL and changing positions.
However, I completely understand the frustration because the organization raved about his potential to play multiple positions — a la the “Joker” role you’re suggesting — and then just kept him at receiver. On that note, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the franchise that found a way for Taysom Hill to have nearly a decade-long career in the NFL added Mellott to its practice squad. I imagine the Saints have a plan for the rookie that is similar to the one they had for Hill roughly 10 years ago.
A: The Raiders called Justin Shorter up from the practice squad to the active roster and re-signed Phillip Dorsett to the practice squad. So, it seems like the plan is to have Shorter and Dorsett be the veteran wide receivers at the bottom of the depth chart.
Related
If they do chose to reverse course and sign a veteran free agent, the wideouts below would be the top options, in my opinion.
In no particular order:
- Diontae Johnson
- Kendrick Bourne
- Robert Woods
- Nelson Agholor
- Odell Beckham Jr.
Obviously, the pickings are slim at this stage. But all of those guys have been productive in the past (albiet, it’s been a while for some of them) and have exprience playing from multiple alginments, which I what I think the Raiders were hoping for with Amari Cooper.
Q: If I understand you correctly, if a team had claimed Laki Tasi, they not only have to keep him on the 53-man roster for 3 weeks, but they then could not stash him on their Practice Squad? They’d either have to pay and keep him or cut him, and another team (like the Raiders) could grab him and put him on their P.S. Is that right?
A: For context, this is a follow-up question from last week, so take a look at last week’s column if you’re looking for background information.
If another team claimed Tasi, yes, they would have had to keep him on the roster for at least three weeks. After that time period, the team could waive him and another club could claim him off waivers and put him on the 53-man roster. But if Tasi cleared waivers the second time, he can sign with any team’s practice squad, including the one that just let him go.
The rules get a little funky with IPP eligibility, but that’s how waivers work with regular players.
Q: Jackson Powers-Johnson won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center, and in year 2, he has lost the starting center position and will play at RG. Trey Taylor won the Jim Thorpe award as the best DB in college football – 2023 seventh-round pick, released this week. Alex Leatherwood won the Outland blocking trophy – first round pick, year 2, he was released. How can there be such a vast disparity between how these players are regarded in college, where they are drafted and how they perform in the NFL?
A: I still contend that Powers-Johnson’s best position is center. His move to guard had more to do with the new regime thinking Jordan Meredith has a brighter future at center, and they wanted to keep their five best offensive linemen on the field. But, I digress and understand where you’re question is coming from.
Ultimately, the league’s decision-makers do not care about how many awards a draft prospect has won in college. They focus on the traits that translate to the NFL. For example, while there have only been three, we have seen Heisman Trophy winners not even get drafted. Also, there are plenty of Heismans who ended up being busts at the next level.
A lot of those “individual” awards in college are really more team accomplishments, especially when it comes to offensive linemen, where voters don’t have stats to lean on. Leatherwood is a good example of that since he was the starting left tackle for Alabama’s 2020 National Championship team, but was considered a first-round reach and quickly flamed out in the league.
Also, the college game is a lot different than the NFL, more so than I think most people realize. The rules are a little different, the hashmarks are wider, size isn’t as big of a deal, the difference in talent level between opposing teams is a lot bigger, etc. So, success in college doesn’t always translate to success in the pros.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.
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