Oakland Raiders: 5 Standouts from Preseason Week 1 vs. Rams
Despite Antonio Brown’s drama, the Oakland Raiders opened up their 2019 preseason with a win and these players were the standouts vs. the Bengals.
Given the way things have gone for the Oakland Raiders this week, particularly in regards to Antonio Brown, it wouldn’t have been much of a shock if Jon Gruden’s team was out of sorts to begin their preseason slate on Saturday night. That wasn’t the case, though. Instead, the silver and black came out and submitted a solid overall effort as they topped the Los Angeles Rams, 14-3.
Brown (given his ongoing injury and helmet saga), Derek Carr and many other Raiders that figure to be starters for the 2019 season didn’t suit up on Saturday night. And while things weren’t perfect for Oakland, the defense stopped the Rams reserves consistently and the offense made enough plays to pull out a meaningless preseason win.
The preseason, of course, is the time of year when guys are trying to improve their standing on the roster and simply make names for themselves, to varying degrees. For Oakland, several players were able to do just that in Week 1 of the 2019 preseason.
These were the five Raiders standouts against the Rams.
5. Arden Key, EDGE
After trading Khalil Mack prior to the start of 2018, the Raiders put a ton of pressure on then-rookie Arden Key. Put simply, the LSU product wasn’t ready. He didn’t have the frame or strength to consistently succeed against NFL competition and, ultimately, that showed when he was on the field.
Throughout the offseason, though, there have been numerous reports and plenty of talk about Key bulking up coming into the 2019 campaign to try and become a more effective player of the edge. It was just the first preseason game of the year but it seemed like that was serving Key quite well in game action.
Key finished the contest with three tackles, two quarterback hits, one tackle for loss and — lo and behold — a sack. Entering his second NFL season, Key looked like a far superior player to what he was as a rookie. If he can continue to play at this level, he should be one of the starters on the edge for the Raiders defense.