Las Vegas Raiders solidify linebacker position with Raekwon McMillan
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders pulled off a huge trade on Saturday morning, sending a draft pick to the Miami Dolphins for Raekwon McMillan.
Heading into the 2020 NFL season, the Las Vegas Raiders knew they needed to make some major upgrades to the linebacker position. In free agency, they struck big, adding two huge names in former Los Angeles Ram Cory Littleton, and former Chicago Bear, Nick Kwiatkoski.
As the team inched closer to Week 1 of the NFL season, they were still looking for someone to step up and fill the third linebacker role in Paul Guenther’s Base 4-3 defense. They added Kyle Emanuel via free agency, and were hoping that holdover Nicholas Morrow could take another step forward in his development.
On Saturday, they added more talent to the linebacker group, swinging a trade with the Miami Dolphins.
The deal
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald announced the deal, while ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted the terms of the deal out on Saturday morning, as the Raiders sent a 2021 fourth round pick to the Dolphins for linebacker, Raekwon McMillan, and a fifth round pick in the same draft.
Compensation update: Raiders are trading a 2021 fourth-round pick to Miami for Dolphins’ linebacker Raekwon McMillan and a 2021 fifth-round pick, per source. Good value for Raiders, but McMillan is in the last year of his deal. https://t.co/kkWF5UHccR
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2020
McMillan is one of the better run-defense linebackers in the NFL, and will come in and give the Raiders another talented guy to fight for a starting spot on this defense. Mayock has been consistent in the fact that he is trying to get this team deeper everywhere, and he did that on Saturday by adding McMillan.