Oakland Raiders: Preseason Week 1 — Stock Up/Stock Down

Stock Up: Arden Key, DE

Now on to the defensive side of the ball, nobody made a bigger impression than Arden Key.

There were concerns throughout the offseason regarding whether or not Key was working hard enough to get bigger, as he didn’t look much thicker. But the coaching staff confirmed that he had gained weight and did come in a lot stronger.

This performance also wiped away a lot of those questions.

Key finished the game with three tackles and one sack, on top of getting a lot of pressures off the edge as he was too much to handle for the backups playing on the Los Angeles Rams offensive line.

His second-quarter sack above was his best play of the game, as he showed off the speed rush he was drafted for with a nice initial burst off the line followed by hand usage that got him up under the offensive tackle’s outside shoulder and able to turn the corner.

Another great rep for Arden was his pressure on Blake Bortles in the first quarter where he again got into the backfield with a speed rush, again showing nice hand usage and the ability to turn the corner.

This play was overall a great thing to watch as newly acquired Ethan Westbrooks got the quarterback pressure and hit from the inside while rookie Trayvon Mullen forced the incompletion.

Besides that, he also had two nice run stops in the fourth quarter and did look noticeably stronger setting the edge throughout the game.

It’s good to see from the former third-round pick who was thrust into a starting role way too early in his career last year making strides in his development.