Linebackers
This has to be the most interesting battles this camp.
Marquel Lee, Vontaze Burfict, Nicholas Morrow, Jason Cabinda, Brandon Marshall, Te’von Coney, Koa Farmer, and Tahir Whitehead will all compete.
Now unfortunately we will end up cutting 2 to 3 of these LBs. We will need to figure out who is going to play running downs and who will play passing downs.
Running plays will be battled out by Lee, Burfict, Marshall, & Whitehead. If I had to guess, the Raiders can keep 3 of these 4 linebackers, primarily because Cabinda and Coney have the potential to be 3 down linebackers.
Passing situations will be interesting. On one hand, you have players like Karl Joseph, who are aggressive enough to play the run on passing downs, and on the other hand, you have Nicholas Morrow, who was a safety his first few games in the pre season.
Passing down competition will come down to Joseph, depending on the distance to the first, Morrow, Cabinda, and Coney.
Overall, we are pretty deep this year. We have a ton of competition all over the field, and it’ll be super interesting to see who can win there individual battles, and which players get cut.