Several position groups are looking at potential overhauls this season for the Raiders. That goes especially for nearly the entire secondary, where we could see as many as four new starters.
Not all of the new starters would fall into the category of what you might call a rebuild. At outside cornerback, for instance, Trayvon Mullen returns as a starter and could be joined by veteran addition Casey Hayward, who played for new DC Gus Bradley for the past four years with the Chargers.
Although head coach Jon Gruden says he is “fired up” by what he sees from the new members of the secondary, he sees a lot of uncertainties as well. At safety in particular.
“Safety is completely unsolved,” said Gruden. “We’ve got some high draft choices there playing down. We’ve got some high draft choices playing deep and we’ve got a great secondary coach in Ron Milus. So, if I’m a Raider fan I’m coming out here watching practice, I’m going to keep an eye on this secondary, it should be a strength of ours. If it isn’t, we’ve made some real mistakes.”
Those high draft choices are former first round pick Johnathan Abram and second round rookie Trevon Moehrig. The latter of whom is pegged as a starter at free safety immediately, which means really the unsolved mystery here revolves around Abram.
The third-year safety has a lot to prove this camp. I had him as one of five Raiders who are entering a make-or-break season in 2021 after a lost rookie season and a second season in which he was one of the worst safeties in football.
It’s becoming clear that Abram will have his work cut out for him to stave off rookie round four pick Tyree Gillespie who the team is high on as a hard-hitting strong safety.
“He’s definitely in the picture,” Gruden said of Gillespie. “He’s a big hitter. He’s a guy that can tackle in space and one-on-one situations. Dominant special teams player and we don’t take that lightly. We think he can play in the post and we certainly think he can play down low around the line of scrimmage. Might even have some dime linebacker capabilities down the road.”
Playing the post and around the line of scrimmage is what the Raiders want Abram to do. So, there’s really no question that this is a message he is meant to hear and for his part he better be listening.
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