Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Tanner Muse (55) runs a drill during Raiders Training Camp at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center in Henderson Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021.
Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021 | 2 a.m.
It wouldn’t be the Raiders if there weren’t major questions surrounding the linebacker position heading into the season.
As Las Vegas prepares for its final preseason game on Sunday at San Francisco, the most pressing concern is a familiar one for the franchise, as the team’s long-lackluster linebacking corps is suddenly in a major state of flux due to a rash of poorly timed injuries.
Projected contributors Nicholas Morrow and Javin White have gone down in the past week and are not expected back anytime soon. Incumbent starter Nick Kwiatkoski was hurt two weeks ago and has not participated in practice since (though he should be ready for the season opener). The only healthy veteran linebacker is Cory Littleton, who the Raiders have gone to great lengths to protect by holding him out of both preseason games so far.
The linebacking corps has gotten so thin that coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock traded a sixth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday to acquire Denzel Perryman (and a seventh-round pick); Perryman has prior experience under Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, which was probably the primary motivation behind the trade.
It’s a touch-and-go situation at the position, but it could also be seen as an opportunity for Tanner Muse and Divine Deablo.
Muse, a third-round pick in the 2020 draft, has played extensively in the preseason and is currently listed as the team’s starter at strongside linebacker. That’s tremendous progress for Muse, a 6-foot-2, 227-pound converted college safety who missed his entire rookie season due to a foot injury.
The Clemson product made four tackles and recorded 0.5 sacks in the second preseason game, and his speed has been evident on several plays — mostly when Muse has blitzed and been able to race into the backfield untouched.
Gruden spoke highly of Muse’s performance against the Rams, lauding his versatility and confirming he’ll once again play extensively in the final preseason contest.
“Tanner went inside and give him credit,” Gruden said. “He’s playing two or three positions and he’s a very good special teams player. And he needs to play. He didn’t play at all last year and he hasn’t really been a linebacker for more than six months, so this is good for him.”
Muse said he isn’t feeling any pressure to perform, even as injuries around him have further elevated his role.
“I prepare and I get ready so these things, when they do happen, I’m already prepared, I’m already ready,” Muse said. “I don’t see it as someone’s in front of me, so I can take it easy. I’m always preparing as a starter.”
Deablo will likely join Muse in seeing a significant amount of snaps on Sunday, and the Raiders are hoping he’ll follow a similar progression. Like Muse, Deablo is a converted college safety, and the 2021 third-round pick will be making his pro debut after missing most of training camp due to a knee injury.
With four practices under his belt since coming off the PUP list, Deablo is feeling healthy and ready to contribute at a position where the Raiders could really use it.
“I feel like there’s definitely an opportunity there,” Deablo said. “I’ve got a lot of ground to cover. That’s the only thing. I’ve got to gain the coaches’ trust. I’ve just got to do my job at the end of the day.”
Like Muse, Deablo pointed to his hybrid safety/linebacker responsibilities in college as helping him get acclimated for the full-time move to linebacker.
“It did make it easier to transition to linebacker, playing in the box a lot more at Virginia Tech because I got a feel for the linemen — how they move, when they pull, what gap I need to fit in. So when I got here it wasn’t necessarily hard knowing which gap I was in, it was just being aggressive with the linemen, because now I’ve got to hit the linemen, get off and then make a play.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
