Arden Key thriving during Raiders training camp under Rod Marinelli
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders ArdenKey was coming into a make-or-break season in 2020, and has had his best training camp to date.
The Las Vegas Raiders needed to improve their edge rusher situation after the 2018 NFL season, as the then-Oakland Raiders mustered only 13 sacks as a team. This came off the heels of the franchise trading away an all-time player in Khalil Mack, who was only 27-years old at the time, and had already won an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
Prior to that 2018 season, the team drafted LSU star edge rusher Arden Key in the third round, and the expectation was that he would sit behind both Mack and Bruce Irvin and learn the position as he goes as a rookie. Key had drawn first round buzz heading into the draft, so the pick seemed to be a steal at that point.
Unfortunately for Mack, Key, and the Raiders, the trade went down before the season happened, and Irvin really did not do much, eventually being released during the season. For Key, he was thrown into the fire, making ten sacks, and registering only one sack.
Last season, Key appeared in only seven games due to injury, making no sacks, and was passed on the depth chart by rookies Maxx Crosby and Clelin Ferrell. In 2020, it appears he is out to show that he needs to be a part of the long-term solution in Vegas moving forward.
Key having a solid first camp under Rod Marinelli
Brentson Buckner did a fantastic job with the Raiders defensive line in 2019, as they nearly tripled their sack total from the previous year. Still, head coach Jon Gruden felt it best to bring in an old buddy in Rod Marinelli, who is widely regarded as one of the best in the game as a defensive line coach.
He inherits a young, but talented group, and it appears that Key is really thriving under him. Key recently called Marinelli “the grandfather you always wanted,” and his play on the field has really stood out through the first two weeks of training camp.
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Even with Ferrell, and especially Crosby, having solid rookie seasons, the fact that Key is playing at a high level this summer is very important to this franchise. That 2018 draft class has yielded very few results, and it looks like Key could finally be that swing edge rusher the team was hoping he would be a few years back.