Las Vegas Raiders 2nd and 3rd Round Recap

The theme of day two of the 2021 NFL Draft was defense for the Las Vegas Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders invited much debate over what some analysts viewed as a reach in picking offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. 

There likely isn't going to be much discord regarding their three selections on day two of the draft, which focused entirely on defense. 

After trading up in the second round, the Raiders took arguably the top-ranked safety in this draft class, TCU's Trevon Moehrig. 

Moehrig led college safeties in pass breakups the last two seasons and finished his career with seven interceptions, showing natural playmaking skills. 

The former two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection should immediately step into defensive coordinator Gus Bradley's scheme at free safety, controlling the back end. 

The Raiders then looked to add some juice to their front seven in the third round with the selections of defensive end Malcolm Koonce and linebacker Divine Deablo. 

Koonce, a senior out of Buffalo, should be able to come in right away working as a situational pass rusher.

He was very efficient on a snap-by-snap basis for the Bulls and is coming off having 11.5 combined sacks and tackles for losses in six games. 

Diablo is someone we recently previewed, a safety-linebacker hybrid out of Virginia Tech who led the ACC last season in interceptions with four. 

He was announced as a linebacker when the Raiders took him at 80th overall, meaning that Diablo could be playing a lot more around the line of scrimmage going forward. 

That kind of move could minimize his flaws and play to his great size at 6-3 and 226 pounds, while still having the ability to hang in coverage. 

Overall, the Raiders were able to add several needed elements to their defense on day two. 

Moehrig's coverage ability, Koonce's pass-rushing, and Deablo's multiple position fits could all make big impacts for the Raiders in 2021. 

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