Dave Ziegler on New Raiders Safety Marcus Epps

Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler recently spoke about the club's intrigue in new safety Marcus Epps.

The Las Vegas Raiders recently brought in some winning experience in safety Marcus Epps, a player who, less than two months ago, was playing for a Super Bowl title.

Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler talked about what he and the front office saw in the addition to their secondary when he joined "Upon Further Review With Eddie Paskal" on Monday.

"[A]nother guy, self-made guy, drafted in the sixth-round by the Vikings, released by the Vikings, claimed by the Philadelphia Eagles, and worked his way up the Eagles roster," Ziegler said. "And this is a competitive roster. This is a program that we have a lot of respect for. This was something that he had to earn, and he did it. I think he played 99 percent of the snaps last year in Philadelphia. 

"When you kind of dig into some of the intangibles on Marcus Epps, Marcus Epps is a leader in that secondary. He was a highly intelligent guy who could make sure that people knew what was going on and then could also solve problems on the back end. And when you have a safety who has that high of a football intelligence that can kind of run the defense, if you will, if need be from the back end but definitely run the secondary and make sure not only that things are right, but problems are getting solved on the fly. That's something that is really attractive about Marcus Epps.

"And then, when you talk about the skill-set, you're talking about someone who has some, I'd say, some interchangeable traits. Marcus has shown the ability to be a reliable player in coverage, and can make plays both on a backend and have range on the back end; he's made plays in the short-intermediate, driving -- pattern reading -- and driving to the football. And then, he also is a player that shows up in the run game. And so, I think at this day and age in football, when you have safeties who have those interchangeable traits -- you really can't put them in a box, they can do a little bit of everything -- that's what we're looking for in our safety position.

"And then, stacking on the, I would say, high-level traits, high-level football intelligence, again, smart, tough, loves football, dependable player, those are attractive traits for us as we're building this roster here in Las Vegas."

The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period began at 4 p.m. EDT on March 15.

The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this offseason.

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