Raiders Hosting Veteran Linebacker for Visit

The Las Vegas Raiders kept five linebackers on their initial 53-man roster, but it looks like they could still be looking to add some depth to the position. Veteran Reggie Ragland is set to visit the team and his reputation as a run-stopper could come in handy when facing powerful AFC West offenses.

Veteran free agent ILB Reggie Ragland is visiting the #Raiders, per source. Former second-round pick has 47 career starts.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 2, 2022

Las Vegas Raiders News

It's important to note that Ragland played in 17 games for the New York Giants in 2021 under the guidance of new Las Vegas defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. The 28-year-old appeared in 41% of New York's defensive snaps last season and gained experience by appearing in a career-high 45% of special teams snaps, too.

Ragland ended up posting 67.0 combined tackles (2.0 for loss), two pass breakups and one fumble recovery last year. In his five-year NFL career, the former Alabama standout has logged 279.0 tackles (16.0 for loss), 3.5 sacks, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one interception in 75 games spread across three teams.

As mentioned above, Ragland is stellar when it comes to filling in the gaps and not allowing running backs to break free. He can be a liability in coverage, though. Ragland gave up an 82.8% completion percentage when targeted last year and let up 171 yards after contact. That has to improve in 2022.

Keep an eye on whether or not the Raiders ink Ragland to a deal this weekend. For now, they'll rock with Jayon Brown, Darien Butler, Divine Deablo, Luke Masterson and Denzel Perryman at linebacker. Las Vegas currently has +170 odds to make the playoffs on FanDuel Sportsbook's NFL odds.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.