The Las Vegas Raiders' constant leadership turnover has been a headache for the fan base. It has been exhausting to see so many moving pieces every offseason and the promised results not be delivered. It happens like clockwork.
But it is even rougher on the team's players, especially those who were drafted by one regime, only for that head coach and general manager not to last beyond their rookie season. Third-year players on the Raiders are currently on their third head coach and fourth general manager. It's a mess.
It is hard for a team to have success under these circumstances, and even harder for young players to develop and keep learning new playbooks or the intricacies of a new system when they're still just trying to keep their head above water at the NFL level.
Raiders' Tommy Eichenberg is starting to look good at linebacker
Take second-year linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, for example. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2024 draft and forced to sit behind Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo last season in a 4-2-5 defense. Now, he's behind Devin White, Elandon Roberts and Jamal Adams in a 4-3.
Not only is the leadership different, so the new general manager and head coach don't understand his strengths and weaknesses as much, but he has an entirely new crew of veterans to learn from and a completely different defensive scheme to adapt to.
Eichenberg has been a special teams ace since his arrival in Las Vegas, but he's only made cameo appearances on the defensive side of the ball when the starters are injured. Last season, he played 80 total snaps, and before Week 15 of this year, he had played just 35.
However, Eichenberg got to play some meaningful reps on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, and he made the most of them. He had one special teams tackle and four defensive tackles, including a run stop and a tackle for loss. In four coverage snaps, Eichenberg was not targeted a single time.
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He also had a really nice play as a quarterback spy on the Eagles' Jalen Hurts, which is something no other linebacker has really done for the Raiders this season. If nothing else, Eichenberg's presence can provide another look for opposing offenses.
His recent uptick in playing time has certainly been unexpected, but promising, nonetheless. Eichenberg played five snaps last week against the Denver Broncos and made one tackle while giving up a five-yard reception, but it seems like he settled in even more against Philadelphia.
So far this season, in his 47 defensive snaps, Eichenberg has made five tackles on defense and missed zero tackles while allowing only three receptions for 21 yards. It's not like he is setting the world on fire, but he has been incredibly solid in limited opportunities.
White has played every defensive snap this season, and both Roberts and Adams have more than shown what they are capable of. With nothing left to play for in the 2025 NFL season, the Raiders should be throwing young players like Eichenberg out there to see what they have.
It is starting to seem like Eichenberg could develop into a solid rotational linebacker in Las Vegas. He's broken out a bit lately, despite most fans forgetting about him on special teams. But he was a national champion linebacker at Ohio State for a reason, and he's starting to show it in the NFL.