Oakland Raiders probably could have, and should have, done better

The Oakland Raiders made a move to shore up the interior of their defensive line on Friday – a move that, while nice, doesn’t really solve the problem.

The Oakland Raiders retained a fan favorite on Friday, when they and Justin Ellis came to terms on a three-year extension worth $15 million, with a reported $6 million plus in guaranteed money.

The extension comes as something of a surprise, as many believed Ellis would be looking for employment elsewhere when the free agency window opens. But, the move keeps the man known as “Jelly” from hitting the open market, and is meant to shore up the interior of Oakland’s defensive line.

From a money standpoint, it’s a decent deal as it’s relatively inexpensive, when compared to some of the other interior defensive linemen hitting the open market.

But, from a football standpoint, the question that needs to be asked is this – will maintaining the status quo and not shaking things up, provide a better result?

Will the Raiders be getting some previously unseen added bang for their buck?

Or, could that money have been better used elsewhere?

Let’s put it this way. The interior of Oakland’s defensive line has been identified by a great many people as one of the team’s most glaring weaknesses and one of the areas in need of a big upgrade this offseason.

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Many aren’t convinced that Ellis is the upgrade the unit needed nor will it actually address the weaknesses along the interior of the defensive line.

As has been chronicled ad nauseam, Oakland’s defensive line lacked punch. It lacked a consistent push up the middle – or really, any kind of push, actually – and was completely unable to collapse the pocket or put any sort of pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Last year, of Oakland’s paltry total of 31 sacks, only 5.5 of those were registered by interior defensive linemen – and five of those, were tallied by Denico Autry. In fact, the half sack tallied by Ellis was the first – well, the first half – sack of his four-year career.

While most note that Ellis is a solid run-stuffer, let’s be real about it. Ellis had the best year of his career in 2017, recording 48 total tackles (27 solo), and the aforementioned half a sack. Is that the sign of an ascending player? Or just a guy playing in a contract year?

And while Ellis had a solid 2017 campaign in the run-stuffing department, it possible to have a defensive tackle who’s solid in both, the run-stuffing and pass-rushing departments.

Revolutionary thinking, no?

Take for example, Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. Older than Ellis, he still posted 47 tackles (33 solo), and six sacks. DeForest Buckner of the San Francisco 49ers, racked up 61 tackles (45 solo), and three sacks. Kawann Short of the Carolina Panthers posted 49 tackles (27 solo), and 7.5 sacks. Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett notched 55 tackles (34 solo), and four sacks.

The list goes on, but you hopefully get the point.

Back in January, Bleacher Report put out a list of 2017’s top 100 defensive tackles from the season and though Ellis did appear on the list, he was number 99, assigning him a grade of 54/100.

From the rankings:

"“He offers solid play strength and use of leverage to take on double-teams, give up minimal ground and stay leveraged to clog running lanes. Ellis struggles stacking and freeing his chest when blockers are inside his frame, delaying his ability to disengage to adjacent gaps or make tackles outside of his frame. Below-average quickness prevents him from being able to stress the outside shoulder of OL as a pass-rusher, and causes him to lose outside leverage vs. quick reach blocks. Ellis is an adequate bull-rusher, can work under pads and compress the pocket against single blocks”"

All of that to say that as a defensive tackle, Ellis is decidedly – average.

As noted above, you actually can have – and probably need – a defensive tackle who is able to stuff the run as well as push the pocket and create some havoc for opposing quarterbacks. Dominant defensive tackles will occupy more than one defender – which would take a lot of pressure off Khalil Mack and the rest of the pass rushers.

And to this point in his career, Ellis has been anything but dominant. Competent, yes. Dominant no. Pretty far from it, actually.

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This is not to say that Ellis is a bad player. He’s not. He’s just not as dynamic as this defense needs. The money used to extend him could have been put to better use trying to extend a player like Denico Autry who’s proven to be more versatile, more athletic, faster, and closer to dominant than Ellis has ever been.

To quote Dom DeLuise playing Julius Ceaser in that Mel Brooks classic, History of the World Part 1, the Ellis extension is, “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling, but nice.”

And it’s hard to see how bringing back one of the key parts of a defensive line that was decidedly mediocre – a well documented weakness of this defense – is going to upgrade and improve the unit as a whole.

Hopefully, in Paul Guenther’s defensive system, they’ll find a way to get more out of Ellis than we’ve seen over the first four years of his career because the Raiders need whole lot more than just competence and a big body along the interior of their defensive line. They need speed, power, and athleticism.

They need guys who can stuff the ballcarrier and push the pocket. And apparently, contrary to current thinking, you can have both.

So, Ellis’ extension is nice – not thrilling, but nice.

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