Heading into the offseason, one of the biggest areas of need for the Oakland Raiders was their secondary. They have struggled to defend the pass over the last couple of years, as it was a large part of the team's shortcoming in 2017.

The front office has taken a heightened effort in adding pieces to the puzzle defensively over the last few days since the free agency period officially began. Now, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Raiders have inked cornerback Rashaan Melvin to a one-year, $6.5 million deal.

The 28-year-old is set to enter his sixth year in the league after spending the last two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. He picked up a prominent role last season, and his addition is expected to help alleviate the mass overhaul at the cornerback position this offseason that saw both Sean Smith and David Amerson get released and T.J. Carrie signing with the Cleveland Browns

In 2017, Melvin worked his way up from being a third-stringer up to being the Colts' No.1 cornerback after the departure of Vontae Davis during the season. However, he saw his year abruptly end after 10 games due to a season-ending hand injury, finishing with career highs of three interceptions and 13 pass deflections.

This has the potential to provide much-needed help to their defense, which ranked 26th against the pass while opposing quarterbacks held a 101.8 quarterback rating and a 68.1 completion rate last season, which was the second-highest in the league. The Raiders have also added a few other pieces to the puzzle defensively in free agency with cornerback Shareece Wright, safety Marcus Gilchrist, and linebacker Tahir Whitehead.

With this latest addition on that side of the ball, Oakland could see a markedly improved defense next season.