The Oakland Raiders have gradually fallen out of the playoff race and can begin to look forward to next year. With that in mind, the Raiders should consider taking Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Before the season began, Oakland signed Brandon Marshall, Vontaze Burfict, and Will Compton at inside linebacker. Marshall was released twice by the Raiders; once after training camp and another time in November.
Burfict was suspended for the entire season after making another dirty hit on Jack Doyle in Week 4. As a result, Compton is the only inside linebacker remaining from the trio that was brought in during the offseason.
Due to the inconsistencies at inside linebacker, Moses makes a ton of sense for Oakland. With the Raiders losing their past three games, they are projected to have the 14th overall pick in next year's draft.
Besides their own pick, the Raiders also own the Chicago Bears' first-round pick (currently 18th overall). Of course, Oakland received the pick in exchange for trading Khalil Mack before the 2018 season.
Moses hasn't been able to play for Alabama in 2019 after tearing his ACL during the spring. The Crimson Tide absolutely missed his presence on the defense this season.
Despite his injury, Moses is still considered to be one of the best inside linebackers available in the 2020 NFL Draft.
In his first two seasons in college, Moses racked up 115 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, an interception, and two forced fumbles. The talented linebacker's ability to pursue running backs in the open field is uncanny.
When Moses gets his hands on you, there are rarely times when the ball carrier is breaking free from his grasp. The one area where Moses can grow is in man coverage when he is following tight ends or running backs.
With the league trending towards passing the ball often, linebackers have to be able to cover.
There are undoubtedly going to be teams wary of selecting Moses due to his serious knee injury. But over the years, linebackers from Alabama have proven to be able to translate their games to the NFL very quickly.
Again, the Raiders could absolutely use a reliable linebacker in the middle of their defense. Moses would give them a defensive leader for years to come; along with his natural linebacker skills.
As the Raiders make the move to Las Vegas in 2020, the Raiders need to begin putting together a winning roster. That is exactly the reason why Oakland should have Moses on their draft board ahead of next year's draft.
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