Oakland Raiders: Breaking down the impact of Arden Key’s injury
By Justin Fried
Oakland Raiders pass rusher Arden Key has officially been declared out for the remainder of the season with a broken foot. How will this injury impact the team going forward?
The Oakland Raiders are riding a wave of momentum fresh off a thrilling 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions this past Sunday. But some unfortunate injury news surrounding pass rusher Arden Key has put a damper on a great weekend for the team.
It was initially reported on Monday by the Oakland Tribune’s Jerry McDonald that the Raiders feared that Key had suffered a broken foot and his report was confirmed on Tuesday by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
This comes at an awful time given that Key was just starting to produce as a pass rusher. The 2018 third-round pick has managed a sack in each of his previous two games after notching only one all of last season.
Key didn’t exactly have an easy go of things in his rookie season as part of perhaps the worst pass rush unit in NFL history. The LSU product was considered a raw project coming out of college and wasn’t expected to receive substantial snaps early in his career.
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However, the trade of Khalil Mack just prior to the start of the season changed plans and Key would go on to make 10 starts and play in all 16 games during his rookie season. Unfortunately, he failed to make much of an impact as a pass rusher.
That said, hopes were high for Key this season as the 23-year-old bulked up from his light 240-pound frame in the offseason to get up to a more comfortable 255-260 pounds.
The added weight was expected to help Key build core strength and match up better with offensive tackles at the NFL level. And despite playing only less than 50% of defensive snaps, it seemed to have been paying off as of late.
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But unfortunately, his sophomore NFL season has been cut short just as he was starting to put things together. For Key, this is obviously a shame as it appeared as though the talented pass rusher was beginning to make his long-awaited impact.
And for the Raiders, this is a significant blow to their pass rush depth.
While the Raiders’ pass rush is improved this season — it would have been nearly impossible to be worse — it’s still below-league-average. Veteran Benson Mayowa has been a nice surprise this season with 5.5 sacks on the season pacing the team in QB takedowns.
And rookie Maxx Crosby has exceeded expectations with two sacks and four QB hits on the year. However, rookie first-round pick Clelin Ferrell has certainly underwhelmed to this point.
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That said, the fourth-overall pick is coming off the best game of his brief career last week against Detroit and it looks like he might finally be starting to turn a corner. And with Key’s injury, they will need him to step up and produce more than he has.
Ferrell was excellent against the run on Sunday and flashed a little as a pass rusher including on the game-sealing fourth-down play when his pressure forced a rushed throw from quarterback Matthew Stafford that would be knocked away by safety Karl Joseph.
Without Ferrell’s pressure, it’s likely that ball isn’t forced into the hands of third-string tight end Logan Thomas.
The Raiders will certainly need more of that from Ferrell as the injuries on defense continue to mount.
Oakland has the depth to make up for Key’s absence, but that doesn’t make it any less of a shame for the young pass rusher.
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Here’s to hoping that Arden Key could come back healthy and ready to contribute in 2020.