Second in a series
The Raiders seemed happy with the play of Malcolm Smith as their every-down linebacker in 2015, and he remains under contract for a second season.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t bring in players both to compete with Smith and augment the unit as a whole, even though linebackers are off the field and often play limited snaps when defensive backs enter in nickel and dime sub packages.
The Raiders got good play out of Neiron Ball before he was injured and then Ben Heeney, who has the kind of energy and sideline-to-sideline capability the coaching staff loves.