Raiders defensive tackles: One down, a lot more to go

The Las Vegas Raiders have big decisions to make this offseason, and adding a new group at defensive tackle is one of them.

Last offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders revamped the defensive line in a big way, bringing in free agent edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, and a host of free-agent defensive tackles. The prior year, the Raiders struggled mightily along the defensive line, leading to them once again being one of the worst teams in the league in terms of getting after the quarterback.

Now, they have to reshuffle the deck upfront once more, as a bunch of their defensive tackles are hitting free agency, and some of their edge rushers could be salary-cap casualties. Las Vegas has to be strong upfront, especially in new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s 3-4 base defense, so expect them to be very active in both free agency and the draft.

The Raiders have talent coming back on the edge, as Maxx Crosby will return alongside Ngakoue at defensive end. However, before this past week, they had nobody on the roster in terms of the defensive tackle spot, so it made sense that the first player signed in free agency would come from that position group.

They have added one big body to the fold already, but there is a lot more work to be done this offseason at this position group.