Las Vegas Raiders: Grading 2021 week 2 defensive free agent additions

The Las Vegas Raiders made a number of free-agent additions on defense in week two of free agency, let’s analyze those moves and transactions.

The Las Vegas Raiders continued their flurry of additions and transactions in week two of free agency, as they looked to address the biggest weaknesses from 2020. As we have covered extensively, the Raiders defense was terrible in 2020, and it lead to a late season collapse that kept them from serious playoff contention.

The weaknesses on the team were at all three levels, as the defensive line struggled to maintain run assignments and generate a pass rush, the linebackers looked lost at times in the scheme, and the defensive backs were torched on several occasions. There is of course a domino effect if one unit struggles and there is a house of cards effect where one missed assignment causes the entire unit to fail.

Depth was also a major concern for the Raiders as they constantly looked to street free agents like Vic Beasley, David Irving, and Takk McKinley to help turn the defense around but the plan seems to be to address that early in the offseason. Here are the moves the Raiders have made so far in week two of free agency and how they might impact the defense this season.