This has been a puzzling offseason for the Las Vegas Raiders. The team’s brass has made a few questionable decisions. On the other hand, they have had a couple of hits. Re-signing linebacker Nicholas Morrow is one of them.
This Las Vegas team is re-signing Morrow, per Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio. After going undrafted in 2017, he signed with the Raiders and made the 53-man roster. Although he was a non-factor early in his career, he steadily saw his role increase in 2020, appearing in 14 games, with 11 starts, and logging 78 total tackles (eight for a loss), three sacks, nine passes defensed and one interception.
Morrow has registered 254 total tackles (20 for a loss), and four sacks. Moreover, he’s tallied two forced fumbles, 20 passes defensed and two interceptions. He hadn’t been particularly consistent until last year. However, he made the most out of his chance when starters Nick Kwiatkoski and Cory Littleton went down with injuries. Heading into the 2021 season, the Raiders linebacker corps looks like a strength.
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How important was keeping Nicholas Morrow for the Raiders?
If you are in are into plot twists, you must be loving the offseason the Raiders are having. There’s no doubt there have been a few positive positives, such as signing defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. Nevertheless, the negatives, such as releasing center Rodney Hudson, outweigh the positives.
Thus, the decision to re-sign Morrow was a ray of light in what’s been a hectic offseason. The Raiders haven’t been very successful at acquiring talent in recent years. However, he has been a hidden gem and the team is making the right decision by keeping him. The team showed patience and the linebacker steadily worked his way up on the depth chart.
Although bringing back the Greenville product won’t make up for the other losses, it’s certainly a move in the right direction. As important as keeping Morrow was, the Raiders have their cut out if they want to have their first winning season their second winning season in the last 17 years.
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Top Photo: Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Glad to see Raiders sign Morrow. Even though everyone is taken aback by the Hudson trade, I was more disappointed in losing Agholar. I’ve said it before, chemistry is the key.
Carr keeps having to work with a revolving door of receivers. When is he going to be able to look over at his key receiver just nod his head and both are on the same page – like Rogers and Adams. Also, now with a reworked OLine Carr needs that chemistry more than ever. Gruden’s putting a lot of faith in Cable. Let’s hope he’s up for the task coming his way.
Couple of comments:
1. Gruden is a grind them down kind of old school coach, or at least he likes to portray himself that way. Hudson was great, but the Raiders couldn’t run and get a short yardage first down last year to save their lives. Hudson was getting older, and his play had fallen off slightly. Maybe the Raiders saw a study showing that at age 32 centers like Hudson have their play quality fall off a cliff. The point is that there are potentially good reasons why the Raiders would want to get rid of Hudson that are about the future quality of his play.
2. That said, this also fits well with a situation where the Raiders are looking to save money, and potentially are cash-flow constrained. The dead cap hit is great from that perspective because it minimizes the amount of money out the door. But it’s also a good counter-strategy to all the teams looking to “extend and pretend” to avoid dead cap hits. Rather than kicking the can down the road on salary cap issues, the Raiders are choosing to take their lumps now. And let’s be honest, other than Carr, Waller, Miller and a few guys on defense, most of the guys on the Raiders won’t be here in 2 years. So the Raiders are going to take some lumps now, but be well-positioned for next year. I wouldn’t so much call it a rebuild as much as a reload.