Teams Las Vegas Raiders - The Black Hole

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The Oakland Raiders and free-agent linebacker Derrick Johnsonreportedly agreed to terms on a contract Friday, according to NFL Network's Mike Silver.

Terms were not immediately disclosed.

Johnson, 35, spent the first 13 years of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Coming off the second torn Achilles of his career, Johnson registered 71 total tackles and seven pass breakups while playing 76.8 percent of the Chiefs' defensive snaps a season ago. That mark ranked second among all linebackers on the team behind Justin Houston.

By adding Johnson to the fold, the Raiders may be signaling a willingness to play free-agent signee Tahir Whitehead on the weak side
 

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GG.exe said:
Meteoric rise for Nicolas Morrow. From UDFA to entrenched starting ILB. He should explode in fantasy terms this season.
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Where do you get the impression Morrow is a lock to start at ILB? We are running a 43. The will is going to be Whitehead and the mike is Johnson. The sam will most likely be Lamur. Morrow is only going to be a situational guy, nothing more.
 
Chewy316 said:
Where do you get the impression Morrow is a lock to start at ILB? We are running a 43. The will is going to be Whitehead and the mike is Johnson. The sam will most likely be Lamur. Morrow is only going to be a situational guy, nothing more.
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Rotoworld has updated its rosters and Raiders are still base 3-4. Johnson and Morrow ILB, Mack and Irvin OLB. Teams don't go by 3-4 or 4-3 anymore these days. They go by Technique. Most teams run hybrid defenses.
 
UP%20CLOSE_Blanda-7_Oakland%20Raiders.jpg



We used to do it this way with great success. Old vets. Smart, tough, wherewithall, etc. Been around the block and know how to win games, win situations. All this new-wave love of getting it done in the draft is often bullshit. Look how many championships the Patriots have won by employing the old Al Davis method, rather than building thru the draft per se. Whilst all those teams building thru the draft haven't gotten there.
 
GG.exe said:
Rotoworld has updated its rosters and Raiders are still base 3-4. Johnson and Morrow ILB, Mack and Irvin OLB. Teams don't go by 3-4 or 4-3 anymore these days. They go by Technique. Most teams run hybrid defenses.
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Look at what Guenther has run the past few years in Cincinnati.

The Bengals base D was a 43. Their sub packages used 4 down linemen. Rarely did they ever play with just 3 DL even in sub packages. This is why Bruce Irvin has been bulking in prep for his move to full time DE.

When they go into sub packages and only have 2 linebackers on the field, the two guys will be Johnson and Whitehead.

I don't know how Morrow fits in this LBer group. Traditionally he would be best suited to playing on the weak side but that would mean he's lined up behind Bruce Irvin. That could be a problem given Irvin also will be undersized for DE. So I doubt Guenther will want to line two undersized guys on the same side of the front 7, because teams will run at them all day.
 
Chewy316 said:
Look at what Guenther has run the past few years in Cincinnati.

The Bengals base D was a 43. Their sub packages used 4 down linemen. Rarely did they ever play with just 3 DL even in sub packages. This is why Bruce Irvin has been bulking in prep for his move to full time DE.

When they go into sub packages and only have 2 linebackers on the field, the two guys will be Johnson and Whitehead.

I don't know how Morrow fits in this LBer group. Traditionally he would be best suited to playing on the weak side but that would mean he's lined up behind Bruce Irvin. That could be a problem given Irvin also will be undersized for DE. So I doubt Guenther will want to line two undersized guys on the same side of the front 7, because teams will run at them all day.
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What I'm saying is you can be a base 3-4 but have 4 downlineman still. The old "3-4" "4-3" thing isn't really used by coaches as such. They go by techniques. They run hybrid defenses. So Mack could be classed OLB in a 3-4 for the general consumption of football fans and analysts. But coaches will just use him x amount of times as a "stand-up" and y amount of times as a 7 technique, and even z amount of times as a 5 technique. PJ Hall is listed as 3-4 DE. But will be used x amount of times as a 5 technique (3-4 DE), and y amount of times as a 3 technique (4-3 DT). The DC will mix and match and utilize players at different points from down to down.
 

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GG.exe said:
What I'm saying is you can be a base 3-4 but have 4 downlineman still. The old "3-4" "4-3" thing isn't really used by coaches as such. They go by techniques. They run hybrid defenses. So Mack could be classed OLB in a 3-4 for the general consumption of football fans and analysts. But coaches will just use him x amount of times as a "stand-up" and y amount of times as a 7 technique, and even z amount of times as a 5 technique. PJ Hall is listed as 3-4 DE. But will be used x amount of times as a 5 technique (3-4 DE), and y amount of times as a 3 technique (4-3 DT). The DC will mix and match and utilize players at different points from down to down.
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I understand completely what you're trying to say, and I'm saying that Morrow still doesn't fit into the picture.

Take a 34 base, with 4 down linemen. Irvin is playing full time DE this year, but for the sake of this discussion, let's say he plays as the edge LBer with his hand in the dirt. Mack is opposite him as a DE. Then you've got 2 interior guys. One will be Ellis, the other one will be Edwards Jr, Hall, Hurst, Vanderdoes or Hester. That leaves you 3 linebackers at the 2nd level unaccounted for. On the weak side is Whitehead. The middle Johnson. Strong side Lamur. Morrow simply doesn't fit in the picture.

Fwiw Hall will almost exclusively play 3 tech this year, as will Hurst. Irvin will line up anywhere from the 7 through 9.
 
Chewy316 said:
I understand completely what you're trying to say, and I'm saying that Morrow still doesn't fit into the picture.

Take a 34 base, with 4 down linemen. Irvin is playing full time DE this year, but for the sake of this discussion, let's say he plays as the edge LBer with his hand in the dirt. Mack is opposite him as a DE. Then you've got 2 interior guys. One will be Ellis, the other one will be Edwards Jr, Hall, Hurst, Vanderdoes or Hester. That leaves you 3 linebackers at the 2nd level unaccounted for. On the weak side is Whitehead. The middle Johnson. Strong side Lamur. Morrow simply doesn't fit in the picture.

Fwiw Hall will almost exclusively play 3 tech this year, as will Hurst. Irvin will line up anywhere from the 7 through 9.
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Gimme a game in Madden Tournament

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/madden-18-tournament-ps4.1192879/
 
andana said:
Johnson is slow and only given a one year contract. Two Achilles and 35 years .
I thought Morrow was our best pick out of last years draft/udfa group. Gotta find a role for him.
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Johnson is not slow. He was still one of the best coverage linebackers in the league last season. Had a grade of 86 in coverage in 2017 per PFF. In contrast, Bowman only had a coverage grade of 77.3.

Not sure where the love for Morrow is coming from. There's a bit of potential there but he still had a very bad season. He played well in 2 games (against Dallas and Philly) but the rest of the games he was poor.

Whitehead and Johnson are going to be on the field as 3 down guys in 2018. That means there's only one more space to fill at LBer, and that player would only get roughly 25% of snaps in a game anyway. It's most likely going to be Lamur, but could be Morrow or Lee.
 
Doesn't look like Bowman is coming back but he had 127 tackles, an INT and a sack.
Johnson had 71 tackles no INT no sacks.
Morrow had 60 tackles.

Signing the 35-year-old Johnson continues the Raiders' offseason of adding aging veterans. Johnson has clearly lost a step but was reasonably effective in 15 games last season despite rupturing his Achilles tendon late in the 2016 season

It's entirely possible that this deal doesn't cost the Raiders much at all, but the philosophy behind turning to a 35-year old linebacker with an Achilles tear in his recent past (who his former team decided to let walk this offseason in an effort to get younger and faster on defense) in order to upgrade the linebacking corps is a bit odd. At his peak, Johnson was one of football's best linebackers, but his play has taken a step backward over the last two seasons. That's not a surprise, or really even a criticism; players getting into their mid-to-late 30s tend to slow down, and it becomes more difficult for them to make plays in a league that gets quicker and faster every year.
 
Regarded as a three-star recruit at safety by Rivals.com, Lamur committed to Kansas State University on January 18, 2009, choosing the Wildcats over scholarship offers from Arkansas, Kansas and Ohio.[

On March 21, 2018, Lamur signed with the Oakland Raiders, reuniting him with former Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.

Safety turned into ILBer. I read somewhere else that Guenther turned a nose tackle into a LBer also.
 
andana said:
Regarded as a three-star recruit at safety by Rivals.com, Lamur committed to Kansas State University on January 18, 2009, choosing the Wildcats over scholarship offers from Arkansas, Kansas and Ohio.[

On March 21, 2018, Lamur signed with the Oakland Raiders, reuniting him with former Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.

Safety turned into ILBer. I read somewhere else that Guenther turned a nose tackle into a LBer also.
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I expect Lamur to be on the field when they go into a base package (with 3 linebackers) simply because he's been in Paul Guenther's system for 3 years of his career, and then he spent 2 years at the Vikings who use the same defensive system under Mike Zimmer.
 
andana said:
Obi was/is supposed to be playing that role. Maybe he has a mentor now if he can get on the field.
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Umm Obi isn't going to be playing as a linebacker when they play 3 linebackers. You have way too much confidence in this kid. The Raiders staff are not expecting anything out of him whatsoever.

The role Del Rio's staff envisioned for him in 2017 was to play as the 5th DB when they took a linebacker off the field. So in essence he'd be replacing a slot corner. It never materialised because of multiple injuries, along with a few issues which never fully got publicised. Simply put, his desire to get the best out of himself is extremely limited. Not a hard worker, and there were some in the building firmly labelling him as a bust of the Jihad Ward category as far back as December last year.
 
After front office jobs with five NFL teams and even a stint in NFL media, Michael Lombardi is one of the more knowledgeable and well-connected people in football.

Lombardi talked about the Raiders in his podcast this week and echoed a sentiment that’s been reported by a number of outlets in recent days:

The Raiders draft and personnel decisions are coming directly from the coaching staff.

From Lombard’s podcast via The Ringer:

“There are a lot of reports that the Raiders are going to make some changes with their front office… but I will tell you the Raiders coaches are running the draft.

The trades that are made, the players that are coming in… all these things that are being done, are being done by the coaches.

Whatever the Raiders do in their front office is insignificant because they’re no different than the Cincinnati Bengals. They’re going to run it from the coaching standpoint…”

Lombardi, who worked with the Raiders under Al Davis from 1998 to 2007, believes Davis would have approved of drafting offensive tackle Kolton Miller with the 15th overall pick.

“Al believed that offensive linemen had to run too, Lombardi said, noting that the Raiders 1st-round pick moved his feet well. “Kolton Miller, he ran well so [Al] would have taken him.”

So that’s good to know.

Maybe it’s true…

John Middlekauff
✔
@JohnMiddlekauff
Gruden is a blonde haired Al Davis
 
Might be good getting coaches who don't talk too much

Raiders could trade down, take Miller
If the Raiders do in fact trade down from the 10th overall pick -- with someone like New England or Arizona or whoever coming up for a quarterback -- look out for UCLA tackle Kolton Miller to be a top target for them. Problem is, they might not be able to move back far at all and still get him. I continue to hear from evaluators and offensive line coaches I most trust that Miller, and not Notre Dame's Mike McGlinchey, is the best tackle in the draft. Miller has the potential to be an elite left tackle with tremendous feet on a 6-foot-9 frame. There is too much potential to ignore. Plenty of teams in the teens have their eye on him. McGlinchey, from what I gather, is much more likely to go in the late-teens to early-20s. Not sure Miller makes it past Detroit, where he could start on the right side if need be, where he played at UCLA before moving over.
 
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