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The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the most interesting teams in the NFL. They had one of the better offseasons in the NFL, adding huge names like wide receiver Davante Adams and edge rusher Chandler Jones. Normally, an offseason like that would propel a team to the top of their division. However, the Raiders play in the AFC West. They'll face the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Denver Broncos each twice next year. In order to have success in such a difficult environment, Las Vegas will need some of their lesser known players to step up. There are plenty of players on the Raiders who could have a breakout season, but none are more likely to step up than linebacker Jayon Brown.
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Raiders X-Factor To Emerge In 2022 NFL Season
Jayon Brown
Brown isn't necessarily a household name, but he should be. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and earned a starting job by his sophomore season. He only started nine games that year, but he racked up six sacks, 97 tackles, and an interception. Brown started the next two seasons and produced similar numbers. The UCLA product always displayed a combination of fantastic speed, coverage ability, and intelligence in the run game, qualities that made Brown an above-average NFL linebacker. Unfortunately, injuries derailed Brown's career in 2021. He spent time on injured reserve. When he played, he never looked like he was 100 percent healthy. Those injury concerns should be a thing of the past in 2022, making Brown a good candidate for a breakout season.
Linebackers with the lowest passer rating allowed in coverage since 2017
🥇 Matt Milano: 84.8
🥈 Roquan Smith: 85.0
🥉 Jayon Brown: 88.3 pic.twitter.com/iAapENGx5T— PFF BUF Bills (@PFF_Bills) June 26, 2022
Snaps are always a key factor in a players' success. Brown should have an abundance of those. He's already set to begin the season as an every-down starter. Brown's running mate will likely be Denzel Perryman, a player who's consistently dealing with injury issues. Backups Kenny Young and Micah Kiser are decent players, but they aren't quite on Brown's level. The only guy who could pose a threat to Brown's snaps is Divine Deablo. However, it's likely that Deablo will have to be deployed instead of Perryman once the latter gets hurt. Overall, playing on this Raiders defense should allow Brown to play 80 percent or more of the defensive snaps.
The nature of Las Vegas's defense allows linebackers to rack up huge statistics. The Raiders have a mediocre defensive line against the run. Defensive tackles Johnathan Hankins and Bilal Nichols aren't exactly top-tier players. Edge rushers Chandler Jones and Maxx Crosby are decent run defenders, but they're much better pass-rushers. That means less rushing plays are stuffed behind or at the line of scrimmage. There's tons of pressure on the linebackers to clean things up at the second level. Perryman racked up a whopping 154 tackles while only playing 74 percent of the snaps last season. Cory Littleton played just over half of the defensive snaps, and he almost put up 100 tackles. Brown is a better player than both of those guys. So, it's fair to expect a huge statistical year from him.
Overall, the path to success for Brown is clear. He's a underrated player who will receiver a huge amount of snaps in a defense that relies on its linebackers. That should equate to a massive year for Brown, and an improved Raiders defense.
