Film room: What can Jonah Laulu bring to Raiders’ defensive line?

Rookie defensive tackle was a seventh-round pick by the Colts

General manager Tom Teleseco wasn’t done tweaking the Las Vegas Raiders’ 53-man roster after cutdown day. Telesco added two players from the waiver wire, including defensive tackle Jonah Laulu. In a corresponding move, the Raiders cut 2023 third-round pick Byron Young, so Laulu will add some depth the team’s defefensive line.

Laulu, a Las Vegas native, was a seventh-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts this past spring but was cut at the end of training camp after an underwhelming preseason. According to Pro Football Focus, he didn’t record any pressures on 34 pass-rush snaps and earned a below-average run defense grade of 54.7.

However, the Oklahoma product has impressive measurables, standing at 6-foot-5 and 292 pounds with 33.5-inch arms while running a 4.98-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, per Steelers Depot. So, let’s flip on the tape and see what he could bring to the Raiders.

We’ll start with a few clips from one of Laulu’s best games at Oklahoma last year where he earned a 75.2 PFF grade. To be honest, I thought his performance was more solid than anything spectacular, but he did have a few encouraging reps that show his upside as a pass-rusher.

The former Sooner is lined up as a 3-technique in a third and long situation and wins with a textbook hand-swipe move. He sets this move up well by stemming to the inside which helps open up the outside pass-rush lane. His quickness is also on display as he’s able to go from head up to winning around the edge before the guard can recover.

I will say that Laulu’s use of hands as a pass-rusher is inconsistent. But when he is accurate with his hands, he can win and get pressure with his movement skills

Patrick Graham called a lot of stunts last year, primarily with Adam Butler, so Graham undoubtedly will like this rep from Laulu.

The defensive tackle does a good job of getting the right guard’s attention by working vertically or selling the regular rush with his first two steps. That gets the guard to follow him when he attacks the right tackle, freeing up the defensive end to loop inside and force the quarterback out of the pocket.

On top of that, Laulu also escapes from the tackle to get a pressure for himself as well.

Similar to the first clip, the rep above is more of a highlight than a consistent part of Laulu’s game as he does struggle to get off blocks. But when he keeps his hands inside and uses those long arms, he’s strong and physical at the point of attack to shed blocks and make tackles for short gains like the one above.

Here, Laulu also does a good job of keeping his pads down to get a leverage advantage on the guard, which was one of his biggest issues in the preseason.

Speaking of the preseason, we’ll move onto a few of the defensive tackle’s good reps against the Denver Broncos where 42 of his 74 snaps over the last month came from.

Laulu shows a good pass-rush motor as his initial move doesn’t work but he doesn’t give up on the play and works a nice outside spin move as a counter. This is another example of his athleticism and I like how he uses his arm/elbow as an ‘icepick’ to clear the offensive lineman and finish the move.

He might be able to make this a primary move down the line so he can win faster.

This a different circumstance as the Broncos run a screen, but here is another example of the defensive tackle’s movement skills and effort/motor.

He does a decent job of recognizing the screen once the offensive lineman releases him and changes direction pretty well for a big man to start chasing the running back. On top of that, Laulu takes a good angle and has the speed to run down the back when the back cuts toward the middle of the field.

With a lane between the numbers and the hashmark, this tackle prevented a big play.

This next clip is similar to the third rep above from Laulu’s college days. He’s lined up at nose tackle and stands up the center at the line of scrimmage by winning at the point of attack with good hand placement and extension. So, when the linebacker (No. 41) forces the running back to cut backside, Laulu can get off the block and get involved in the tackle near the line of scrimmage.

All of this being said Laulu’s biggest issue against Denver was taking on and holding his ground against double teams and combo blocks. His wide hand placement is a problem as that allows offensive linemen to get to his chest and stand him up, ruining his leverage. On top of that, he has a habit of stopping his feet after contact which is a bad combination.

Overall, the Oklahoma product is a project whose technique needs fine-tuning, but he does have a few enticing traits to develop.