Raiders Roster Evaluation: Malcolm Koonce
The 2021 NFL Draft is now behind us, and that means teams across the NFL are in the process of piecing together their entire rosters.
The Las Vegas Raiders are likely no different before what could be a pivotal fourth season of the second Jon Gruden era.
That's why we'll be going over roster evaluations for the Raiders players and position groups to see how everyone's stock measures up heading into the summer.
You can never get enough pass rushing in the NFL, and the Raiders should know that better than most.
The team only had 21 sacks last season, and they've made moves to try to remedy that for 2021.
Signing pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue should help, and also should the drafting of defensive end Malcolm Koonce.
The Raiders' third-round pick out of Buffalo from this year's draft, Koonce should bring some immediate juice as a rotational 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 last season.
For his career, Koonce finished with 109 total tackles, 22.5 for losses, and 17 sacks in 38 games.
Koonce also was graded well by Pro Football Focus in his final season, ranking as their 29th best edge defender in the country in 2021.
He's a fluid athlete who has a great bend and likes to switch up his methods of attack in order to toy with tackles.
Koonce is not considered a great run-defender, though, a lot of that having to do with his smaller size at 6-3 and 250 pounds.
Some scouts thought entering the draft that if Koonce didn't put on more weight, his ceiling might just be that of a situational pass rusher.
It doesn't mean he won't, and at the very least his pass rush ability will likely be able to secure him a role on any team looking to generate more pressure.
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