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Last year’s EOTG coverage of the Raiders started with this statement: It is not a good sign when the best thing that can be said about an NFL defense is they were mediocre against the run. That pretty much summed up the Raiders’ defensive performance in 2022. Their 2023 season showed a big step in the right direction but there is still room for improvement.

Against the pass, the 2023 Raiders were twelfth in yards per attempt, thirteenth in passing scores allowed, fifteenth in interceptions, and thirteenth in sacks. On the ground, they finished fifteenth in yards per carry and surrendered the sixteenth most rushing scores. Las Vegas even landed in the middle of the pack in forced and recovered fumbles. Indeed, their lone top-ten statistical finish on the defensive side was the all-important, total points allowed where they were ninth.

The question is, will this team take the next step defensively? With their first three draft picks on the offensive side and just one significant defensive signing in free agency, the organization did not invest a lot of resources to get the job done, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will not happen.    

Defensive Linemen

In Maxx Crosby, both the Raiders and IDP managers have a cornerstone to build a winner around. Over his first three years as a pro, Crosby put up decent numbers while showing a lot of promise. In 2022, it all came together for him. That season he piled up 89 total tackles, including 58 solos, what was then a career-high 12.5 sacks, and forced 4 turnovers on his way to being the fantasy game’s top edge defender. Last season, Crosby confirmed he was much more than a one-year-wonder by going 55-35-14.5 with 3 turnovers on his way to another top-five finish. He is 26 years old and in the prime of his career. No one in last year’s top five is more likely to repeat than Crosby.

One big difference for Crosby and the Raiders between 2022 and 2023, is that he was no longer a one-man show last year. There was no help in 2022 when the team’s second-highest sack total was one and a half and the Raiders were dead last in sacks as a team. The 2023 Las Vegas had seven players with multiple sacks. One of them was rookie first-round pick Tyree Wilson who finished with three. The organization has big plans and high hopes for Wilson in the years to come. With the emergence of Malcolm Koonce over the second half of last seasone, Wilson might have to wait a while before realizing those expectations.  

Koonce was the team’s third-round pick in 2021. He was virtually invisible for two seasons, combining for eight tackles, four assists, and a pair of sacks over that span. Through week eight of last year, he was 8-7-0. Then the lights suddenly came on. Over the final nine games, Koonce racked up 24-4-8 including six sacks over the final four contests. Crosby is one of the rare defensive linemen who consistently plays over 90% of the snaps, so what might officially be a three-man rotation on the edge is really more of a two-man rotation between Wilson and Koonce at the spot opposite Crosby.

Koonce is expected to be the starter heading into the season though he and Wilson could see a relatively equal number of snaps. That could change, however, if Koonce continues to do so much more with the opportunity.  

Last year’s Las Vegas squad fielded a solid yet unspectacular interior line group. John Jenkins, Adam Butler, and Bilal Nichols are all dependable NFL starters. What the Raiders were missing was a playmaker on the interior line. With the free agent addition of Christian Wilkins, that problem is solved.

Wilkins is arguably the best three-down interior lineman in the game. At 310 pounds, he has the beef to stand up versus the run, defeat double teams, and make plays. He is not a great pass rusher but will make a solid contribution in that column. Some would point out that Wilkins racked up nine sacks last year. While true, those numbers are almost certainly an outlier considering he had no more than four in any of his other four seasons.

There is always some risk when a fantasy stud changes teams. That said, Wilkins is simply too good of a player to flop in virtually any scheme, and playing next to Crosby is going to be a plus. He has at least 65 combined stops, 3 sacks, two takeaways, and 4 batted passes in each of the last three seasons. Even the team change should not keep us from counting on Wilkins as a solid DT1.  

• DE Maxx Crosby – Elite tier stud
• DE Malcolm Koonce – Sleeper with DL2 potential
• DE Tyree Wilson – Deep sleeper with considerable long-term value
• DE Ellerson Smith – No impact expected
• DE Janarius Robinson – No impact
• DT Christian Wilkins – Quality DT1, solid DL2
• DT John Jenkins –  Possible depth in leagues starting two tackles
• DT Byron Young – Second-year deep sleeper
• DT Adam Butler – Marginal value
• DT Matthew Butler – No impact expected.

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