Las Vegas Raiders: AFC East 2021 free agents to ‘steal’
By Brad Weiss
Las Vegas Raiders: AFC East 2021 free agents to ‘steal’
Pat Elflein, OG, New York Jets
The New York Jets were one of the worst teams in football this past season, winning only one game, though they nearly beat the Raiders. It took a hail mary pass from Derek Carr to Henry Ruggs III to get out of MetLife Stadium alive in 2020, and in 2021, the Jets are looking to reshuffle the deck all over their roster.
One area will be the offensive line, where the unit struggled to protect Sam Darnold all season, and it led to another down year for the former No. 3 overall pick. One member of that line, offensive guard Pat Elflein is hitting free agency, and with the Raiders suddenly needing so much help at the position, he is someone the team should take a look at this offseason.
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Elflein is a former third-round pick out of Ohio State, where he helped the team to a national title, and he was actually really good early on for Minnesota, being named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Since then, Elflein has bounced around from right to left guard, suffered a ton of injuries, and never got back to being the player he was early on for the Vikings.
If anything, he is a low-cost, high-reward free agent for the Raiders, someone who could come in and win one of these open guard jobs in 2021.