Raiders: Positional pairs to bring back during 2023 free agency

Raiders: Positional pairs to bring back during 2023 free agency

Backing the Line

• Denzel Perryman & Jayon Brown

One of the Raiders’ biggest areas of weakness always tends to be at the linebacker position. Not that they don’t have talent within their starters necessarily, but they always seem to lack quality depth. So, when the injury bug comes knocking as it tends to do, the Raiders find themselves in this weird “do we play backups or just more safeties” type limbo.

Perryman had a career year in 2021 after being traded from the Panthers to the Raiders in August right before the regular season started. He set a franchise and personal record with 154 tackles and was voted to the Pro Bowl. Perryman was playing well this season too, amassing 83 total tackles and 2 interceptions, but unfortunately went down due to injury and only played in 12 of the 17 games.

Jayon Brown signed a one-year deal with the Raiders last offseason but saw himself playing behind Devine Deablo on the depth chart. As someone who was better in pass coverage than on early downs, Brown saw more time in a backup role until Deablo got hurt and Brown slid into the starting role. Brown’s year was decent, starting in 6 games and playing in a total of 8.

He too saw time on the IR though when he got hurt in early December.

I’m not sitting here trying to tell you that retaining these two are going to fix the Raiders’ linebacking needs, but with the little depth they had and with the solid level of play they both had in this system, it would be wise to bring them back. If nothing else to help the new guys develop. Not to mention the cheaper price tag they both would warrant.