Turning around a defense that was abysmal making sure tackles is a tall task for any defensive coordinator — let alone a rookie one.
That’s where Rob Leonard finds himself with the Las Vegas Raiders.
After impressing head coach Klint Kubiak and earning a promotion from defensive coach and run game coordinator to the Silver & Black’s defensive coordinator, the 38-year-old is in charge of a group that ranked in the bottom five (or top five, depending on how you want to look at it) in missed tackles this
past season.
If there’s an incumbent coach that knows all too well the woes of Las Vegas’ defense, it’s Leonard.
Let’s take a look at the numbers — from Pro Football Reference:
By The Numbers
Las Vegas Raiders Missed Tackles 2025
- Team Total: 121 (5th most out of the 32 NFL teams)
- Leaders: LB Devin White 19; S Isaiah Pola-Mao 17, LB Elandon Roberts 11, S Jeremy Chinn 10, DT Jonah Laulu 10, DE Maxx Crosby 9, LB Jamal Adams 8
But let’s give credit where it is due: The 2025 performance was improvement over the 2024 campaign that saw then-defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit ranked second overall in missed tackles with 134 total. That was behind the Indianapolis Colts’ 157 tally and ahead of the Carolina Panthers 132 total. But as you can see from the 121 whiffs Pro Football Reference charted the Raiders with in 2025, sure tackling remains an issue. And lo and behold, the Colts were in front of the Raiders with 125 missed tackles to take the fourth-most spot. For inquiring minds, the Cincinnati Bengals were far and away the whiff masters of the 2025 season with 170 missed tackles.
As the Raiders embark on training camp under Kubiak’s watchful eye, let’s put it as blunt as I can: The team can’t afford to whiff on tackles this coming season like it did in year’s past. To help alleviate that and provide the rookie defensive coordinator ample talent, general manager John Spytek went to work this offseason bolstering the roster in free agency and the draft, all put Leonard in an advantageous position in his inaugural season as defensive boss.
The team’s poor tackling was a result of a three components and the struggles at the linebacker position was chief among them. The woes also includes scheme and technique breakdown and the lack of consistent pressure from the defensive front.
Let’s kickoff with the linebacker spot. To say the linebacker position was an area of opportunity for the Silver & Black was a gross understatement. And the NFL Next Gen Stats post above is a prime example of shoring up deficiencies Las Vegas addressed this offseason.
Quay Walker (three-year, $40.5 million contract) and Nakobe Dean (three-year, $30.6 million deal) are two high-priced additions the Raiders made to stock up a porous position group. Walker’s addition bodes well for shoring up the shoddy tackling due to ranking third according to NFL statistics tracking in missed tackle percentage. His collegiate teammate at Georgia, Dean, showcased the ability to make sure tackles as Pro Football Reference charted him with six missed tackles this past season while the group tracked Walker with five whiffs. Those totals are considerably lower than the digits above from the top Raiders offenders in 2025.
The talent infusion should provide improvement over the group helmed by Graham that yielded a league-high 416 yards after missed tackles. Because on paper, Walker and Dean provide upgrades from Devin White and Elandon Roberts.
Let’s shift to scheme and technique. This is where Leonard will sink or swim.
Early returns are encouraging for the Raiders, though. Like the head coach who elevated him, Leonard is a stickler for the small things and attention to detail is a core tenet. Raiders defenders consistently took poor angles and relied way too much on either arm tackles or hard hits instead of wrapping up securely for stops, the past two seasons. And Leonard’s philosophy should cleanse the defense from its habitual brain farts due to his intense but focused coaching style built to instill confidence and composure.
The style of play Leonard expects from his defense also looms large.
Implementing an aggressive 3-4 defensive front that requires the 11 defenders to swarm to the ball, Leonard is concocting a defense that is the quintessential “see ball, get ball” group. The shift to an attacking 3-4 base defense that’s designed to stymie the run and send an array of rushers at the quarterback when opportunities present themselves, the Raiders want to be physical, fast, and to the point where flying to the ball with reckless abandon is welcomed — even at the cost of mental errors.
And this is where we explore the third of the trio of issues in the tackling department: Pressure and the lack of it.
By playing with an attacking attitude and maintaining that until the final whistle, Las Vegas sets the initiative. In previous seasons, the Raiders played more of a read-and-react style that often resembled the bend-but-don’t-break philosophy. This isn’t to say the team didn’t blitz. Under Graham, the team did it’s fair share of that. But the absence of complementary havoc creators alongside edge rusher Maxx Crosby was just as glaring as the absence of quality talent at the linebacker spots.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Raiders generated 115 total pressures on opposing quarterbacks and just 34 hurries in 2025. That netted the Silver & Black the fifth and third worst rankings in both categories. To help add more teeth to the pass rush, Spytek brough in a power-type edge rusher in Kwity Paye (three-year, $48 million contract) in free agency and according to NFL.com writer Matt Okada, the former Indianapolis Colt logged 40-plus pressures in each of the last three seasons before coming to Las Vegas. The following month int he 2026 NFL Draft, the Raiders added Auburn defensive end Keyron Crawford in the third round, a supremely gifted athletic but unrefined edge rusher who has a high ceiling and is moldable (similar to Crosby back in the day).
Mix the blitz-adept and aggressive Dean to that mix and Leonard’s front seven should do a lot more attacking the offense than reacting to what the offense is doing. And playing with momentum forward is a heck of a lot better than a defense playing on its heels and, as a result, whiffing on tackles.
