Oakland Raiders: 5 best defensive players heading into the bye
By John Buhler
The Oakland Raiders have an opportunity to regroup now that they are on bye. Here are the five best defensive players for Oakland at the halfway point.
Entering their Week 10 bye, the 2017 Oakland Raiders find themselves with an underwhelming 4-5 record. It was not the start to the year that Raider Nation had hoped for. While the offense has largely regressed under first-time offensive coordinator Todd Downing, the defense has in a way been slightly better than expected.
To be fair, the defense is only 21st in the league in points allowed at 214, but, yes, the bar was that low for this defense. Not being able to force an interception in nine games is both an enigma and an anomaly this season for the Raiders’ defense. How does that happen?
Though schematically this team gets outmatched just about every week, there have been a few players on this defense that are quietly having solid to good seasons for the Silver and Black. It’s no longer just Khalil Mack and a bunch of other guys. There are a few that have really stepped it up this year.
What we’re going to do is look at the five best Raiders defensive players according to Pro Football Focus grades to have a better understanding about what’s been good with this defense this season. Here are the top five graded Raiders defenders heading into the bye week.
Florida State Seminoles. Mario Edwards Jr.. 5. player. 28. . Defensive End
To this point, I guess we can call it a breakthrough year for the guy. Raiders’ third-year defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. seems to be finally healthy and is putting together a nice season for the Silver and Black. Pro Football Focus has Edwards with a decent 76.3 overall grade.
Edwards’ strength has been in run defense, as he has garnered a 79.0 grade in that department. His coverage grade isn’t terrible for a defensive lineman at 60.3. However, his pass rush grade of 54.4 isn’t anything to write home about.
That being said, Edwards already has a career high in quarterback sacks at 3.5 in nine games this season. He should be able to eclipse his rookie mark of combined tackles of 42. Edwards has 26 combined tackles through nine games. He is on pace for 47 tackles and 6.0 quarterback sacks.
With the position he plays, it’s good to see a healthy Edwards be a strong, run-stuffing defensive end. While he won’t be a Pro Bowl level player for the Raiders, when healthy, he is proving to be a guy that Ken Norton Jr. can rely on in his defense to make key plays.