Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs: 3 Surprises in Week 14

Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs: 3 Surprises in Week 14

The 2021 rookies

Can anybody tell me why Malcolm Koonce has been a healthy scratch for the past eleven games? Koonce has only been active for the past two games and has two sacks on the season already one in each game.

Before the game, Rich Bisaccia said Koonce has flashed all season in practice, not just recently, well then why hasn’t he been in then? Because he has produced while he has been in, and has been a bright spot heading into the future, he is definitely a player to get excited about.

Fellow third round pick Devine Deablo was a safety in college at Virginia Tech and was a second safety taken by the Raiders in back to back drafts trying to turn them into linebackers.  Deablo has had trouble staying on the field from the beginning of rookie minicamps with little injuries here and there, and some stellar play from linebacker Denzel Perryman, but these past two games Deablo has really flashed in terms of pass coverage and does not seem too small for the linebacker position.

Deablo was second on the team in tackles in this game behind safety Johnathan Abram with nine four of them solo.

Raiders 7-round 2022 NFL Mock Draft: Raiders regain their speed

It feels like we say this every year, but the 2022 NFL Draft will be huge for the Raiders if they want any chance of turning this franchise around.

The Raiders completely failed in the 2020 draft as only one player from that draft is still with the team, but with another draft or two with solid players like this included with second-round pick Trevon Moehrig and fifth-round phenom Nate Hobbs the Raiders future could be much brighter with another complete rebuild coming in the offseason.