Raiders: Can Preston Brown fix the team’s shoddy run defense?

The Oakland Raiders recently signed veteran Preston Brown to give them some much-needed linebacker depth. But can he solve the team’s run defense concerns?

The Oakland Raiders were in desperate need of some linebacker help following a slew of injuries and misfortune at the position and they signed veteran Preston Brown on Monday to help alleviate those concerns.

Brown joins a long list of recently-signed defensive veterans who have been counted on as plug-and-play contributors in recent weeks. The likes to Will Compton, D.J. Swearinger, and Dion Jordan have all been called upon to play significant snaps just days after being signed by the team.

Expect Brown to be no different.

Following a season-ending suspension to Vontaze Burfict and an injury to Marquel Lee, an already thin Raiders linebacker depth chart was left even thinner. The team has had to rely on veteran Tahir Whitehead and the inexperienced Nicholas Morrow to play pretty much every defensive snap.

Whitehead still remains a solid contributor but Morrow, in particular, has struggled against the run. And he’s been a big part of the team’s struggles defending opposing running backs.

The Raiders have allowed an average of 136.3 rushing yards per game over the last three weeks including a whopping 173 yards on 7.9 yards per carry to the lowly Cincinnati Bengals this past week.

The team’s front-seven has struggled to halt opposing running games even while the secondary has stepped it up in recent weeks. The hope is that Brown could at least limit the concerns.

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Brown spent the first four seasons of his career playing for the Buffalo Bills where he earned a reputation as a tackling machine. In each of his four seasons in Buffalo, Brown finished with over 100 tackles including a league-leading 144 back in 2017.

But after a disappointing year-and-a-half tenure in Cincinnati, the Bengals opted to release him earlier this month. And when looking at some analytics, it isn’t hard to see why.

Pro Football Focus has graded Brown as the 81st ranked linebacker out of only 90 qualifiers with a dreadful 44.1 grade so far through nine games. The 27-year-old has particularly been a liability in coverage.

PFF has docked him for allowing 20 completions on 21 attempts while in coverage for a whopping 213 yards and two touchdowns. That and the Bengals desire to get younger at the position likely led to his release.

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That said, he still remains a solid player in run support. Brown’s 52 tackles rank fourth on the Bengals this season despite playing in fewer games and receiving significantly fewer snaps per game as the year went on.

And that is exactly where the Raiders need help.

Morrow is an athletic linebacker who is much better in coverage than he is defending the run. Brown’s addition gives the team a more proven and experienced player than Compton to play on first and second down instead of Morrow.

The younger, more athletic Morrow could excel in passing downs when the team is in its nickel defense while Brown could play more on earlier downs in the base 4-3.

It’s unlikely that Brown is the ultimate fix to the Raiders run defense issues, but he should give the team a more reliable gap-shooting, tackling presence. Morrow just hasn’t been cutting it in that role.

Facing a talented running back this week in Le’Veon Bell, but a poor overall running game behind a porous New York Jets offensive line, it should be interesting to see how Brown and the Raiders run defense fairs this Sunday.

Here’s to hoping that the secondary continues to impress while the front-seven shows signs of improvement.