Despite going 12-4 and being one of the better teams in the AFC in 2016, the defensive unit for the Oakland Raiders was a major weak point. Not only did the Raiders have a bottom tier defense for the majority of the year, but they had arguably one of the worst linebacking cores in all of football.
The Raiders elected to not re-sign Malcolm Smith and also have Perry Riley Jr. waiting on the back burner. The current linebacker core consists of Bruce Irvin, James Cowser, Cory James and Tyrell Adams. To say the current personnel for the linebacker core is weak would be an understatement.