5 players not named Jimmy Garoppolo the Raiders should sign in Free Agency

4. The Las Vegas Raiders should sign LB Tremaine Edmunds in free agency

There are many reasons the Raiders have had just two playoff appearances in the last 20 seasons. Elite play from the quarterback position is one. Poor draft choices are another but the biggest one is without a doubt their defense or lack thereof. The last time they had a top-10 defense was in 2002 when they were sixth in the league in points allowed.

Since then, the Raiders have only ranked once in the top 20 and that was back in the distant year of 2006 when MySpace was still riding high. The reason this is brought up it’s that they need to fix the defense if they want to make the playoffs on a consistent basis instead of once every decade. They have a few solid pieces in place, superstar edger rusher Maxx Crosby is one of them but he can’t do it all alone and Las Vegas need to add talent to the defensive front. They signed outside linebacker Chandler Jones last season but that’s not enough.

The front office must upgrade their linebacker corps this offseason and Buffalo Bills’ pending free agent Tremain Edmunds could help. The 2018 first-round pick might be one of the top player available in the open market but he’ll be worth every single cent Las Vegas spend on him.

Edmunds is entering his prime, coming off a season in which he posted an 81.9 Pro Football Focus overall grade of 81.9. He’s got superb coverage skills, which the Raider could use to slow down Kansas City Chiefs tight Travis Kelce.