Oakland Raiders: Projected 53-man depth chart for 2019 before OTAs

Linebackers

Starters: Tahir Whitehead, Brandon Marshall, Vontaze Burfict
Reserves: Marquel Lee, Jason Cabinda, Te’von Coney, Nicholas Morrow (7)
Surprises: Te’von Coney

Coney slipped through the draft-day cracks. He’s a big-time downhill thumper, who flashed the ability to wreak havoc in the backfield, logging 21 tackles for a loss and seven sacks between his junior and senior terms.

NFL teams value linebackers who can play in space and handle coverage duties, which is likely the reason for Coney’s fall out of the draft. While talking to Lee, Guenther emphasized the ability to cover (as a linebacker) in the AFC West, per Tafur. “I told him this is the AFC West, you have to be able to cover,” Guenther said.”

Coney doesn’t have ideal man-coverage skills, which likely limits his responsibilities to base alignments, early downs and short-yardage scenarios, but he’s athletic enough to follow a pass-catcher and disrupt a throw to an intended target with his 32.875-inch arms.

Notable Omissions: James Cowser

The Raiders added a pair of veteran linebackers in Marshall and Burfict; those acquisitions will push back-end roster hopefuls off the depth chart.

Burfict has four years of experience in Guenther’s scheme, dating back to their shared time with the Cincinnati Bengals between the 2014-17 seasons. If he goes through training camp healthy, the 28-year old likely starts Week 1.

Marshall spoke highly of the Raiders’ training staff and sounds optimistic about his recovery from a knee injury (h/t Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic):

As a result of the veteran acquisitions, Lee, Morrow and Cabinda move into backup roles. If Coney makes the cut, Cowser, who spent most of the 2018 season on the practice squad misses out on a roster spot.