Silver And Black Pride
Second-year linebacker has size, athleticism to make noise and compete for starting snaps
An undrafted rookie who was a core special teamer and finished with a miniscule five total tackles in his rookie season having starting potential heading into Year 2?
Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?
Such is the case for Amari Gainer and the Las Vegas Raiders.
The 24-year-old North Carolina/Florida State product has good size at 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds and athleticism (4.53 40-yard dash time at the Tarheels’ pro day) and made the 53-man roster as an undrafted free agent last season. Gainer finished second in special teams snaps amongst all Raiders in 2024 with 380 — Amari Burney, who was waived earlier this offseason, led Las Vegas with 384 snaps.
By The Numbers:
Amari Gainer, Linebacker, Florida State/North Carolina
It’s Gainer’s size and athleticism that can make waves this offseason in a linebacker group that’s very much in flux. It’s a group of nine players that is a mix of veterans and very young players in their second season or rookies.
The pecking order is going to be figured out as the Raiders continue with offseason team activities (OTAs), practices, and workouts. Things will intensify when Las Vegas convenes for minicamp in June and then training camp later in the summer.
Gainer has appeared to work hard on his craft this offseason and if he can parlay that into consistent effort to open eyes from this Raiders coaching staff, he’s got breakthrough potential in Year 2.
The Raiders have a void in terms of both tackling and coverage ability at the linebacker position — one that lost both 2024 starter via free agency in Robert Spillane (New England Patriots) and Divine Deablo (Atlanta Falcons). Gainer, who has the instincts, intelligence, and speed, can make an impression on head coach Pete Carroll and linebackers coach John Glenn — both of whom have a solid reputation of developing defenders and linebackers.
A core special teamer-turned starting linebacker may seem daunting, but it’s not impossible.
That’s a career trajectory Corey Littleton took with the Los Angeles Rams. Sure, his two-year stint with the Raiders is considered a flop, but Littleton cut his teeth as a core special teamer for the first two years of his career before blossoming into an all-around linebacker from 2018-19 (259 total tackles (168 solo), 7.5 sacks, five interceptions, 22 pass breakups). The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Littleton was talented in coverage those two season and Gainer has similar size and athletic profile.
Las Vegas has a trio of veterans who inked one-year deals that can be summed up simply as flier “let’s see what they can do for us” type pacts.
Veteran free agent addition Elandon Roberts is highly likely one of the starters at the position...
