The Las Vegas Raiders are leading the NFL in every defensive category you don’t want to be a part of. Total yards, Yards Per game, rushing yards, passing yards, total points and points per game. Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard, in his first year, is taking some nasty lumps. While it appears that he shouldn’t be long for this job, the question begs: with the roster he currently has, who could do better and who would want to try?
For the last six consecutive weeks, the Raiders’ defense has allowed
30+ points, a feat that hadn’t been replicated since the Jacksonville Jaguars did it in the 2020 season. No team in the modern era has ever allowed seven straight weeks of 30+ points allowed on defense. Additionally, allowing 150+ rushing yards to opposing teams in five of the last six weeks. While Raider Nation wants heads to roll, as they rightfully should, ask yourself: is it his fault?
Keep it real
Last season, the Raiders finished with the worst record in the NFL, which secured the number one overall draft selection. When Leonard took over, he was given old toilet water and asked to make wine. His best player, Maxx Crosby, was rehabbing a knee injury and the defensive backfield was completely overhauled through the 2026 draft. His best young defensive lineman, Tonka Hemingway, was still a largely unproven commodity who had done his best work in the weight room during the offseason.
During that very same offseason, the Raiders finally invested in the linebacker position, bringing in Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker. Along with the former Eagles linebacker position coach. As for the defensive line, the group was largely ignored and it wasn’t until week 2 of the preseason that difference-maker Folorunso Fatukasi was brought in to help.
Furthermore, there is only so much scheming you can do for an undersized defensive line against 12/13 personnel. Especially when they struggle to defend the run in regular 5/6-man sets to begin with. So how do you scheme when your guys aren’t playing up to their expectations and/or pay?
Call outs
Eric Stokes is supposed to be the leader of the defensive backs, but at this point, he could be cut outright from the team and they wouldn’t miss a beat. Outside of a streak or a fade, there isn’t a single pass route he excels at defending. When he takes the field, the opposing offenses look at him and salivate like they were staring at Kyu Blu Kelly last season. Somehow, mediocre play, prefaced as not giving up a passing touchdown because teams preferred to throw at a worse defensive back, got him a 3yr/$30M contract extension. He has been nothing short of a liability.
Kwity Paye was brought in for 3yrs/$48M to give the Raiders a secondary pass rush to complement Crosby and had a great coming-out party against the Miami Dolphins. For $16 million per year, Paye is producing 1.5 sacks every four/five weeks. Strangely, that means within the next week or two he should be producing another sack, because his last one was in week 6 against the Buffalo Bills.
Is he being asked to mush rush, or hold contain and not rush the passer? A fair question. Considering this rendition of defense is eerily similar to years past that also got Ken Norton Jr., Paul Guenther, Gus Bradley and Patrick Graham relieved of their positions.
The defensive line as a whole. Flashes don’t equal consistency and players who make a couple of plays with quickness don’t tend to hold up when physicality is required. The Raiders are giving up a league-worst 2.3 yards before contact on running plays. Meaning, they are getting knocked nearly 2.5 yards off the ball on every rushing attempt; there is no scheme that can offset that. At this point, with the production being generated, these guys are practically stealing money.
Case for Keeping Leonard
At week 10, no defensive coordinator is going to come in with a magic scheme that’s going to save the defense. Either the players are going to get tired of producing losing efforts and do something about it, or they will not. Right now, the Raiders hold the 15th draft spot in the 2027 draft. Losing will only cause that draft selection to rise and provide access to more premier talent or trade scenarios.
At the start of the year, Leonard did a masterful job of masking weaknesses and accentuating strengths. As the weeks progressed and more and more film became readily available, there was only so much he could hide. As painful to watch as it may be, the best case for the Raiders, good or bad, is to keep Leonard and readdress the issue in the offseason.
