Las Vegas Raiders: 2021 53-man roster prediction after preseason finale

Las Vegas Raiders: 2021 53-man roster prediction after preseason finale

Defensive End (5): Clelin Ferrell, Maxx Crosby, Yannick Ngakoue, Malcolm Koonce, Carl Nassib

So much hype is being generated around the combination of Yannick Ngakoue and Maxx Crosby. Both players are talented players and alpha presences on the football, ad it’s pretty safe to say that Las Vegas’ hopes and dreams will live or die depending on the performances of these two defensive ends.

Ferrell and Nassib still seem to be question marks and their amount of playing time will all depend on how they progress and fit into Gus Bradley’s scheme. Ferrell, for instance, is a really great run-stopping defensive end who does a great job setting the edge.

It’s just that Bradley doesn’t really use defensive ends in that way, so now it’s unknown how often Ferrell will be used.

As for Nassib, he’ll have to prove that he can be the player that Las Vegas signed him to be. If he isn’t, then it’s a real possibility that he gets cut or traded either this year or the next. When it comes to Koonce, it’ll be interesting to see how Las Vegas experiments with him. He won’t ever start, but there is a strong chance that he gets to see the field a lot on certain blitz packages.