ALAMEDA — Defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. is confident that a few key additions to the Raiders secondary will help them extinguish the brushfire that burnt the team far too often last season.
Despite giving up a league-leading 61 completions of more than 20 yards last fall, the Raiders are bringing back their entire secondary for the 2017 season. Instead of overhauling the defensive backfield, the Raiders are hoping that a few tweaks — drafting Gareon Conley and Obi Melifonwu with their top two picks and hiring former-San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano — will give them the competition and communication they need in the secondary to shore up the holes in their passing defense.