The Las Vegas Raiders currently rank 26th in sacks at just 19 on the season, with 6 of those coming from Maxx Crosby alone. Crosby is being doubled at a career high, and he’s seen his win rate see an increase over the last five weeks after initially struggling early on.
Crosby is still seeing lows in his pressure rate and win rate but with the high rate of double teams it could be an indication, though Crosby still has provided exceptional paly over that time. Outside of Crosby the Raiders are lacking, Tyree Wilson ranks 2nd with 19 pressures and an 8.5% win rate. Wilson isn’t living up to the expectation of a 7th overall selection in 2022 but he’s grown his role into a good third pass rusher, the issue for the Raiders is that Wilson is being asked to be the next guy across from Crosby a role that just won’t work for him that well. The Raiders re-signed Malcolm Koonce to a 1 year, $11 million contract and a year off his ACL tear it’s not been the best season that Koonce would expect with just 17 pressures, a sack, and a 13% win rate. While Koonce has done well as a pass rusher he still does look off due to the torn ACL. Despite this, the Raiders should look into retaining Koonce for the 2026 season to give time following the ACL injury rebound that usually occurs.
The Raiders edge rushers haven’t been great, Koonce isn’t living up to his contract nor expectations and has seen his snap counts start to decline with Tyree Wilson and Charles Snowden, who’s logged 6 pressures, a sack, 2 hits, and 17% win rate in just 48 pass rush attempts increase their playtime. The Raiders are getting little push from the interior defensive line at times as well. Jonah Laulu has been the most notable of them with 17 pressures and 5 sacks but he’s only sporting a 5% win rate this season and is ideally a rotational defensive tackle going forward. Adam Butler has been double teamed on 58% of his pass rush attempts this season and he’s logged just 16 pressures and a 7% win rate with 1.5 sacks which are all career low rates for him. Next to Butler, the third defensive tackle the Raiders have is Thomas Booker who has done a good job generating sacks for others with 6 created sacks this season, which is 4th among all defensive tackles in the NFL. On his own, Booker has done well with 13 pressures and a 7.2% win rate. The 25 year old is an RFA after this season and should be back to try and anchor as a third defensive tackle going forward.
The Raiders haven’t seen a ton from rookie JJ Pegues and Tonka Hemingway on the interior, though both of them have not seen a ton of snaps either combining for just 55 on the season. The Raiders have seen massive regression from their defensive line, at the same time the unit is running stunts on 58% of their pass rush snaps, which is an increase of over 18% from last season. Defensive line coach Rob Leonard has never ran stunts as frequently as they are this season, which could be a reason for the lack of production along with simply the Raiders lacking talent on the defensive line. Las Vegas must address their pass rush this season, the coverage unit hasn’t been great by any means especially at the 2nd level and safeties which can cause less time for the Raiders defensive line to get to the quarterback. Despite this, Las Vegas should either look to spend in free agency on a dominant pass rusher next to Crosby or invest premium capital into the position as well. Free agent’s David Ojabo, Odafe Oweh, Travis Jones, and Jaelan Phillips all have connection with DL coach Rob Leonard and Phillips has seen a ton of success initially in his career under Leonard, something the Raiders could try to draw to Vegas if they are open to paying another pass rusher north of 15 million a season.
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