Silver And Black Pride
Answering Raider Nation’s questions for the week
OTAs are underway for the Las Vegas Raiders, and the biggest news this week is that defensive tackle Christian Wilkins isn’t participating in practice after suffering a setback in his recovery from the foot injury that prematurely ended his season. So, that and the offseason are the primary focuses of this week’s mailbag.
Q: How do you think the injury to Wilkins will change his season? Will he play at all?
A: The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore reported that Wilkins will likely be back by August despite the recent setback. The situation could change between now and then, but as of right now, it’s looking like he’ll be good to go by the start of the season and shouldn’t miss any games.
As for how the injury will impact the defensive tackle’s season, I’m not terribly concerned with him missing unpadded practices in May. Yes, it would be ideal for him to be out there, but he’s a veteran who has played at a high level and was good last year before suffering the Jones fracture in his foot.
Where I would start to get worried is if Wilkins has to miss time during training camp. It’s hard to get into football shape without practicing with pads on, which is what training camp is for with an experienced player of his caliber. If that happens, it could cause him to get off to a slow start, and we’d likely see the Raiders rotate Wilkins out of games more frequently and rely on their depth at defensive tackle to begin the campaign.
Q: Should Wilkins miss significant time, how do you see snap share breaking down for the interior DL? If both rookies are impressive in camp and preseason, who is your favorite to fill the role if necessary?
A: If that happens, hypothetically, Adam Butler will have an increased role and be a starter, similar to how he was used last year when Wilkins went down. Also, Zach Carter’s odds of making the team will get a significant boost since Carter is a decent run defender at the 3- to 4i-technique spot.
Additionally, I’d be interested to see how Jonah Laulu develops this year. Consistency was an issue for Laulu during his rookie season, but he had several quality reps in both phases of the game and made seven starts to provide some optimism for his outlook.
Admittedly, I’m a little biased when it comes to the rookies. I liked JJ Pegues more than Tonka Hemingway heading into the draft, so Pegues would be my pick to be the starter if it comes down to those two. He’s the better run defender, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hemingway is used a little more as an end. That said, they could complement each other well since the latter is a decent pass-rusher, where Pegues takes the early downs and Hemingway subs in during passing situations.
**Q: Do you think the Raiders will...
