Las Vegas Raiders: 3 bold, early defensive predictions for 2021
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders struggled mightily on defense this past season, but new faces could lead to some surprisingly good play on that side of the ball.
During the 2020 NFL season, the Las Vegas Raiders struggled mightily to get stops. While the offense was one of the best in the NFL, landing in the top-10, the defense gave up way too many points, and that led to the late-season collapse once again.
This offseason, the organization made it a point to get better on that side of the ball, using five draft picks on the defense, and bringing in some solid veterans via free agency. That should give new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley more than enough weapons to utilize, which in turn will at least make this group a middle-of-the-pack defense.
There were plenty of issues last season, including getting after the quarterback and getting off the field on third down. The addition of Bradley was a huge one, as was some of the talent they brought in, as it will be a group that will look a lot different than the one who looked absolutely lost at times last season.
With that said, here are three bold predictions for the defense in 2021.