Oakland Raiders Should Take DE Shaq Lawson at 14
With free agency and the draft quickly approaching, it’s time to start looking at what the Oakland Raiders need to do to improve their team’s deficiencies from 2015. The good news for the Raiders is that their offense looked much-improved and playoff-ready, but it is clear they need an infusion of talent on the defensive side of the ball at several positions.
While it is clear that Oakland needs to be concerned about their secondary, I think they should look at free agency for corner and safety help. Another key position that they need to focus on is their outside pass rusher/run stopper spot. They obviously have one side locked up for the foreseeable future in all-pro Khalil Mack; now it’s time to focus on the other side.
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Enter DE Shaq Lawson at the 14th pick in the 1st round of this year’s draft.
Skilled enough to play either the outside linebacker spot in a 3-4 scheme and strong enough to play end as well, Lawson is a match for the Raiders. After losing Justin Tuck to retirement and Aldon Smith to suspension, Oakland needs the type of strength and athleticism Lawson brings to the table. While on the smaller side height-wise at 6’3”, Lawson more than makes up for it in power, speed and quick hands.
cbssports.com’s Dane Bruger and Rob Rang agree: “Lawson’s compact frame and power make him equally effective against the run and the pass, where he shows surprising initial quickness and agility as well as a terrific motor. He has quick, strong hands to create push with his upper-body strength, showing the fluid lower body to drive his legs and smoothly change directions based on his reads.”
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To be honest, Lawson is arguably the 3rd best DE in the draft behind Ohio State’s Joey Bosa and Oregon’s DeForest Buckner. But unless the Raiders want to trade up into the top 5 or 10 and give up way too much in compensation, Lawson is the perfect guy at 14th and should be available unless a team ahead of Oakland reaches slightly.
Playing for Clemson, especially in 2015 as a full-time starter, Lawson got to put his pass rushing and edge sealing skills up to the test against top talent. The 2015 Consensus All American played well in those spotlight games. Against top ten projection OT Ronnie Stanley he had 3.5 tackles for loss. In the National Championship game against Alabama Lawson totaled 2 sacks.
It’s clear Lawson made the most of his final collegiate season with 12.5 sacks(4th in the NCAA) and 24.5 tackles for loss (1st in the NCAA), both big numbers for a DE.
Oakland needs a young disruptor and physical presence opposite of Mack to help alleviate the double teams, and they could use some help stuffing the run in the backfield.
Oakland wasn’t horrible against the run in terms of yards a game given up at 104.9, but part of that reason was that teams didn’t run much at them (11th overall in lowest total run attempts against per ESPN statistics). They were too busy torching the Raiders secondary. When teams did run against Oakland, they averaged over 4 YPC. And on top of that, Oakland was tied for dead last in fumbles caused on running plays at 2.
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Lawson is a guy that could help change all of that, as he specializes in tackles for loss while still being able to apply pressure from the outside. The best part is Oakland wouldn’t need to give up a ton, if anything at all, to be in position to draft him. If he’s there at 14, Lawson should be snapped up.