Raiders may have found a gem in Jonah Laulu
Jonah Laulu emerged on Monday Night as a legitimate young piece for the Raiders' interior defensive line.
Las Vegas has struggled to acquire young talent at the position for quite some time, as the only reasonable fixes at defensive tackle for years have been veteran free agents.
But Laulu was claimed by the Raiders in August after the initial 53-man rosters were released. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the seventh round of the 2024 draft, but was waived before he could play a game.
Tom Telesco swooped in and picked him up, and the team is now reaping the benefits of it.
Until Week 11, Laulu had not played over 50% of the defensive snaps in a game. Now, he has played over half of the game in four straight contests, including a 91% snap share against Atlanta.
He has been impacting the game for several weeks now and rapidly improving, but in Week 15, he really made his mark.
Laulu recorded five tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass defended, and a quarterback hit. He also applied pressure on several dropbacks and was inches from his second sack if Adam Butler had not gotten there a split second quicker.
The Las Vegas native is starting to build some serious momentum and has the chance to become a hometown hero if he can keep up this level of play.