Oakland Raiders: Holiday Wish List heading into 2019
By Brad Weiss
The Man in the Middle
The Raiders have a lot of holes on the defensive side of the ball, but one major one is at the middle linebacker position. They tried to bring guys in to fill that void over the last couple seasons, including NaVorro Bowman in 2017, but they are still lacking in terms of a true leader in the middle of the defense.
Currently, undrafted free agent Jason Cabinda is starting in the middle, and while he has shown himself to be a solid player, he is not the long-term answer at the position. With a ton of cap space, the Raiders may want to go out and actually spend some on the middle linebacker position, bringing in a player like CJ Mosley from the Baltimore Ravens.
Tahir Whitehead was brought in this past offseason, and he has settled into his role as a key outside linebacker in Paul Guenther’s 4-3 scheme. Moving forward, the Raiders need to add players that can bring depth to the linebacker group as a whole, but it all has to start with bringing in a quality player to play in the middle.