The Raiders’ most intriguing roster fight right now is happening where the action never really stops: inside on the defensive line.
Las Vegas has spent the early stretch of this rebuild trying to piece together a new identity, and that work has shown up in practice. After their preseason loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Raiders put together one of their best sessions yet on Sunday, a day devoted even more to the style of football Klint Kubiak wants to build around.
“Running the ball is important, we think that's a huge part of winning football games. Running the ball, stopping the run on defense,” Kubiak said Sunday after practice.
That emphasis makes the interior defensive line even more important, especially with the Raiders shifting to a 3-4 defense under Rob Leonard. Leonard’s move from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator only raises the stakes for the group, and Las Vegas has already kept adding bodies to the mix as it searches for the right rotations.
The latest changes tell the story. The Raiders recently released defensive tackle Benito Jones, then turned around and signed veteran defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi. That kind of movement is a reminder that even in a unit that seemed relatively settled, nothing is locked in for long.
Fatukasi brings size, and that alone makes him a player to watch if he gets opportunities. But he’s not walking into a vacuum. Veteran defensive lineman Adam Butler remains one of the better pieces in the room, and he laid out the mindset the group is leaning on this season.
"I would say just making sure that we lock in the basic framework of a defense. Making sure that we set a consistent edge. Making sure that we communicate the way we need to communicate and just continue to emphasize how important that is,” Butler said while explaining the defensive line's approach this season.
“Because when guys aren't on the same page, it shows up, and we don't want to get exposed. We want to be on the same page. We want to know what we're doing, and we want to make sure that we have the basic fundamentals down first before anything else."
That blend of added competition and shifting depth is what makes this group stand out from the rest of the roster battles. Other position competitions are progressing more or less as expected heading into the team’s second preseason game, but the interior defensive line has already taken on a different feel.
It’s also the spot that could end up mattering most. If the Raiders are going to build the kind of team they want under Kubiak, they’ll need to run the ball, stop the run, and keep finding usable interior linemen as the season wears on.
That job doesn’t end in August. It runs all the way through a 17-game season, where the most physical players on the field tend to get tested over and over again.
For now, the battle inside is just getting started.
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