Oakland Raiders free agency: Brandon Marshall grade, reaction

Linebacker was an issue for the Oakland Raiders in 2018, and this offseason, they have brought in some quality veterans to help bolster the position.

It has been an exceptional outing for the Oakland Raiders this free agency period. The trade for Antonio Brown kicked off the mass amount of quality signings that addressed the teams needs. However, even with their strong outing they still need help in some areas.

The linebacker position is a glaring need among others. There’s a lot of young and raw talent for depth like Nicolas Morrow and Marquel Lee, but the position is lacking in true starters.

Tahir Whitehead is the lone player in that category and even that’s a bit of a stretch. The Raiders recently signed Vontaze Burfict reuniting him with defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. Even with Burfict the linebacker position still needs improvement.

That is why the team reeled in linebacker Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos.

Contract details

National reaction

Grade

If you’re just looking at Brandon Marshall’s production last season, then you’ll consider him a failed signing. It was one of his worst performed seasons to date. However, if you consider how atrocious the Broncos were entirely, then his play gets excused to a certain degree.

Throw in the fact that he was banged up and his poor season actually makes some sense. Marshall was once a pro bowl caliber linebacker when the Broncos were an elite defense a few years ago.

That mentality didn’t dissipate, he still has that in him. It’s just whether or not the Raiders can pull that out of him. His contract is a one year deal, but he’ll be aiming to convert that into a multi-year deal after this season.

Marshall is from Las Vegas and he has made it known that he wants to play in front of his home crowd. The motivation is there for him, he just needs to act on it and improve his performance. Marshall is an upgrade over most if not all the Raiders linebackers.

He’s not going to make the defense dramatically better, but he definitely improves them. The signing of Brandon Marshall is a nice addition with the hope that he can bounce back into exceptional form.