Oakland Raiders Still Looking to Add a Middle Linebacker
The Oakland Raiders did a good job by taking Wake Forest's Marquel Lee in the fifth round of the draft last week and he's a potential replacement for Malcolm Smith and Perry Riley Jr. at the inside linebacker position. Offseason addition Jelani Jenkins, Cory James and Ben Heeney can play in the middle as well, but it looks like the Raiders may want to add at least one more veteran linebacker who can shore up the middle of the defense.
"I don't know that we've adequately addressed our middle linebacker position, to be honest," Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said on the NFL Network, via CSN Bay Area.
"I think we have some work to do there. The rest of our roster is pretty well situated, but we'll be looking for a linebacker and we'll continue to look, whether it's the waiver wire, trades or available guys out there, veterans on the street. We'll continue to look," he continued.
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"The guys that are here, we're going to develop and grow and hope we can take them to a higher level," Del Rio added.
Since the team thinks Jenkins is more suited as a weak-side linebacker, Lee, James and Heeney will have to compete for the starting role at middle linebacker if they don't add another player at the position.
Riley is still available on the open market, though, so maybe they should consider bringing him back. He played fairly well last year and he started 11 games at the position for the club.
Some fans are probably still feeling a little annoyed that they didn't draft Reuben Foster, but general manager Reggie McKenzie really likes Lee. However, the Raiders probably need to get someone with a little more experience in case he struggles in his first season in the league. James and Heeney will also need more time to develop.
