Raiders: Marquel Lee returns to bolster the team’s linebacker depth
By Justin Fried
The Oakland Raiders have officially activated Marquel Lee off the injured reserve and he should immediately provide a huge boost to a struggling linebacker core.
The Oakland Raiders are starved for any sense of optimism at the moment after a devastating 40-9 thrashing at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
That loss came one week after an embarrassing 34-3 blowout to a New York Jets team was manhandled by the previously-winless Cincinnati Bengals the following week. Football is weird, and the Raiders are in a dark, dark place right now.
For that reason, it’s at least nice to hear some sort of positive news — even if it isn’t exactly an earth-shattering development.
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The Raiders announced on Monday that they had officially activated linebacker Marquel Lee from the injured reserve and added him to the active roster. This comes just a few weeks after the team initially designated him to return from the IR.
Lee was originally placed on the injured reserve after suffering a serious ankle injury following the team’s Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. And unfortunately, Lee was just the first domino to fall.
Middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict was handed a season-long suspension soon after leaving the Raiders with only two viable starting-caliber linebackers — Tahir Whitehead and Nicholas Morrow.
And it’s not as if either is going to be confused with Bobby Wagner or Luke Kuechly.
Morrow, in particular, struggled in run defense as the athletic linebacker was more of a passing-downs, coverage linebacker forced to play 90-100 percent of defensive snaps. The results weren’t ideal for the Raiders run defense.
Veterans like Will Compton and Preston Brown were signed to momentarily provide depth but the former is a limited player while the latter is yet to see the field for his new team. And with Lee’s return, he may very well remain inactive on gamedays.
Lee should immediately step in and give the Raiders a viable third linebacker to play in the team’s base 4-3 package as opposed to playing almost exclusively out of the nickel.
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And don’t be surprised to see the third-year pro push for one of the two starting spots with Morrow most likely to see reduced playing time as a result. Lee has 18 career starts to his name and is a more accomplished run defender than Morrow is.
The Raiders released wide receiver/kick returner Trevor Davis in a corresponding move that should come as a surprise to nobody. Davis fumbled on a kick return and failed to convert a crucial 4th-and-1 in Sunday’s game and the writing was on the wall for his departure.
It is worth noting that the Raiders did give up a 2020 sixth-round pick to acquire him back in September so that pick appears all but wasted at this point.
Regardless, Lee’s return is at least a small piece of good news for a Raiders team desperately in need of some. And with the state of their linebacker core, it couldn’t come at a better time.
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The season isn’t over just yet, and Lee should at least help the defense take another step forward.