The Las Vegas Raiders were bitten by the injury bug last season, and the infection spread throughout the whole defense. No group got hit harder than the defensive line, as three of the four projected Week 1 starters missed significant time with various ailments.
Maxx Crosby missed games for the first time in his career in 2024, and Christian Wilkins never returned to the field after breaking his foot in Week 5. Fortunately, both of these players are under contract this season and new general manager John Spytek re-signed veteran Adam Butler as well.
Malcolm Koonce, however, seems to have slipped through the cracks a bit ahead of the 2025 season. He tore his ACL just before the opener last year, and it seems like only Raiders fans can recall his 8.0 sacks in the final nine games of the 2023 campaign.
Raiders' DL suffers in PFF rankings due to Malcolm Koonce omission
On Wednesday, Pro Football Focus' Zoltán Buday ranked the top defensive line groups in the NFL. He slotted the Raiders in at No. 22, which feels a bit low, but he neglected to mention Koonce at all in his description of the unit.
"There is not much continuity on the Raiders' defensive line, as edge defender Maxx Crosby and interior defender Adam Butler are the only players to have logged more than 550 snaps in 2024," Buday wrote. "Even under the assumption that Crosby gets back to full strength and elite play after undergoing surgery on his ankle, Las Vegas' defensive line is mediocre at best. That is especially true if interior defender Christian Wilkins is forced to miss time in 2025 while he continues to recover from a season-ending injury, as reports suggest."
Koonce not being mentioned is either a glaring omission or blatant disrespect for his prowess as an edge rusher. He finally got his opportunity in the latter half of the 2023 season and he wreaked havoc on some of the league's best offenses. Crosby has also gone on record multiple times saying that Koonce is the best running mate he has ever had.
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To say there is not much continuity is also a bit misleading, as it was injuries that kept these players from playing 550 snaps. Wilkins and Koonce were both in the building for the entire year in 2024 learning from defensive line coach Rob Leonard and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, just as they will be again this season.
Other rotational players like edge rushers Tyree Wilson and Charles Snowden, as well as defensive tackles Jonah Laulu and Zachary Carter, are all back in the fold this season as well. In fact, the defensive line is one of the only units on the roster that has any continuity at all, and it is precisely because this group is so strong.
2025 will be a big year for Koonce, as he signed a "prove-it deal" with the Raiders this offseason. He will need to prove to himself that he can come back from injury, to the organization that he is worthy of a big contract, and to the league that he is a legitimate pass rusher worthy of recognition. Based on what Raider Nation has seen from him so far, they should expect this from Koonce in 2025.