PFF dubs one of Raiders free agents as 'sneaky good' signing

[ASFN Admin]

There wasn't much in the way of big splashes for the Raiders this free agency period. Their best additions will be the acquisition of Geno Smith in trade with the Seahawks and last year's big splash DT Christian Wilkins returning healthy.

Somewhat surprising considering they had over $100 million in cap room this offseason. But what they opted to do with it instead was give Maxx Crosby a massive extension, bring back Malcolm Koonce on a one-year deal, and Adam Butler to the long term deal he was seeking, and make some more strategic signings to replace players they lost.

One of those replacement players is Elandon Rorberts.

The veteran linebacker was signed by the Raiders to replace Robert Spillane who signed a big contract with the Patriots. Roberts may not be the biggest signing the Raiders had, but he's the addition Pro Football Focus zeroed in on, referring to him as a 'sneaky good' free agent addition for Las Vegas.

Out goes Robert Spillane, and in comes Elandon Roberts. The Raiders swapped out a now-$11 million-per-year player for a $3.01 million linebacker and arguably won’t see much of a drop-off in talent. Before joining the Raiders, Spillane never earned a 60.0-plus PFF overall grade in four seasons with the Steelers. He topped that figure in both of his years in Las Vegas. Roberts, who also comes from Pittsburgh, was the NFL’s third-highest-graded linebacker in run defense last season (91.0) but dealt with some coverage woes (49.6) — similar to what the Raiders got out of Spillane.

Free agency is rarely the answer to rebuilding a team. The best ones build through the draft and supplement with free agency. Roberts signed a one-year deal, so clearly he's not the long term answer. But he could keep the loss of Spillane from stinging at least for this season until they can find a long term answer at the position.

So, you can see why this would be considered a good signing for the Raiders. While leaving them with plenty of money to sign Geno Smith to a new deal.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: PFF singles out Raiders free agent as 'sneaky good' signing

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