Rob Leonard to be Raiders DC

[BoKnows81]

[rich72]

Im not excited about promoting any of our old defensive coaches, but whatever, ill roll with it.

[DanKD]

I think people are definitely underestimating the effect such a terrible offense has on the defense. If we can have an offense that can sustain drives and not turn the ball over, it will do wonders for the defense to maximize whatever talent and coaching we have. Goes the other way too of course where a strong defense helps the offense.

Overall, I am fine with the hire. Getting a known stud like Schwartz would have been great but ultimately wasnt realistic. If Leonard sucks the next couple of years you move on and then maybe can get a top experienced talent with a top 8 nfl offense in place and more young talent on defense.

[Reno Hightower]

Devil’s advocate:

Having a QB lead the league in INT certainly does the defense no favors regarding ppg allowed. I bet historically, most teams with our QB situation allow a lot of points.

In all honestly, the defense put up a respectable showing last year. That side of the ball played good enough to win, but it wasn't talented enough to carry the team and overcome the liability the offense became.

[CWood24]

Sounds like bullshit to me.

This defense was trash just like every year with Graham.

25th in points scored against, that's the only ranking that matters.

The stats are the stats & they do matter but you have always been a stats only matter when they prove yoir point guy.

Simple fact this defence wasn't as bad as first thought when you deep dive it, still a lot of work to do but there is something to work off with the D

[Goodtimes333]

I mean if you look at it, the defense was weak as f[raiders_icon]ck at multiple spots player wise. At the end of the day you have to have some solid players. Koonce was terrible, injury rebound year or not. If your best defensive tackle is Adam Butler you're pretty well f[raiders_icon]cked there also at Dtackle. No disrespect to Butler. He'll be a good depth piece/rotation guy. The linebackers couldn't cover and blew gap assignments, took poor angles. Two strong safeties were on the field basically every snap. I'm not against Chinn or Pola Mao but realistically you have to have a free safety out there with a different skill set. The corner opposite Stokes was horrible whether it be the rookie or Blu Kelly. Slot was not good either. All of this with a HC who stubbornly ran his scheme or no scheme. Win or lose live or die his way or no way. When teams know you're in cover 3 80+ percent of the time & you have minimal talent you're gonna have a bad time. I think the defense played pretty solid considering. Some games/parts of games at least.

I have no Idea what ol' Rob Leonard will run scheme wise. Nobody knows what preferences he has for down front, coverages, blitz philosophy, position talent preferences etc. I do hope he goes the route of Seattle/Baltimore in running basically two nose tackles on field at all times with a 5 technique. It's like a modern 3-4 that's a hybrid 3-3-5 stack. If you get a couple big body boulders up front who can also push the pocket it allows a lot of flexibility for linebacker and db use.

[CWood24]

Wait … we were 7th in DVOA???

God knows if that is accurate but Kuhn usually posts good stuff

If the stats are true it does show we have a little something to build on & Leonard has been a part of that

Our D was constantly hindered by our offence

I don't get why people were happy to take positional coaches from elsewhere to be DC or DC’s in name only but aren’t happy with promoting an experienced coach who has done decent work

[SuperRaider]

What it tells me is Schwartz was not moving to a new team. He was the one guy I would have seen as a great option. Leonard seems mediocre because he was part of a defense that also was mid. But the guy has been widely considered up and coming the last couple years

Schwartz would have been a great hire; but I think it would create more problems as he still in contract with the Browns as a DC and I suspect the raiders would have had to give an important draft pick for him; maybe a 3rd rounder…I don’t know….

Not too happy with Leonard as the DC as I was hoping the raiders would go outside the box; and not hire in house…
But because the raiders waited for Kubiak; last NFL HC hired, they kinda miss out on all the DC that were available…..

[GoodTimeCharlie]

Schwartz would have been a great hire; but I think it would create more problems as he still in contract with the Browns as a DC and I suspect the raiders would have had to give an important draft pick for him; maybe a 3rd rounder…I don’t know….

Not too happy with Leonard as the DC as I was hoping the raiders would go outside the box; and not hire in house…
But because the raiders waited for Kubiak; last NFL HC hired, they kinda miss out on all the DC that were available…..

By the looks of things one might think that Leonard was a strong possibility all along.

There were only 2 legitimate interviews and an interview scheduled before Leonard. The two interviews conducted before Leonard (Aubrey Pleasant and DeMarcus Covington) just so happened to satisfy the “Rooney Rule”. The one scheduled with Jeff Howard (not a Rooney Rule check) never happened.

[Sir Raider Duck, OMS]

Leonard is a reasonable hire. As others have noted, it's hard to judge a defense when the offense was as bad as Kelly's. Schwartz would have been nice, but when you've hired your HC after everyone else has built their staffs and you're getting cockblocked left and right for assistant hires, you take who you can get. If Kubiak wants to move on to a different DC in 2027, he'll be in a much better position.

If we got Kubiak right (and I'm optimistic), nothing else matters right now.

As for Schwartz: The Browns, as usual, shot themselves in the foot. For the next several hiring cycles, potential assistants will definitely remember the team not letting him leave when he wanted. Cleveland will still get assistant coaches of course, but nobody with options will go there, at least not without specific contract language allowing them to leave whenever they want.

[Swagron]

Not digging all the continuity considering how much the defense sucked last year. Hope this isn’t more of the same. Would have preferred more fresh and creative rather than the same old.

[Raidernation1979]

When your offense is on par with the browns, titans and jets for TD % and fairly low for avoiding 3 & outs and you defense has 7-8 new starters every year and they have conflicting defensive schemes with graham and pete I’d say our defense did ok. Especially considering the dearth of talent. We need some continuity and some more talent to really gauge anything accurately

[Attyla]

Not digging all the continuity considering how much the defense sucked last year. Hope this isn’t more of the same. Would have preferred more fresh and creative rather than the same old.

I do not see this as a continuity hire. I see it as the best option on the table. More importantly, I want us to invest in the defense to support the hire. Scheme only gets you so far, you have to have the talent to execute the scheme. Way too many missed tackles the last couple years and way to soft in the red zone. If he can get more talent, particularly on the front 4 he will be in a position to be fairly evaluated. Fortunately, this draft is deep on the defensive line.

[BoKnows81]

Not digging all the continuity considering how much the defense sucked last year. Hope this isn’t more of the same. Would have preferred more fresh and creative rather than the same old.

Eh, continuity would of been keeping the guy who overstayed his welcome by 2 years in Patrick Graham. Still baffles me that some think he was/is a good coordinator. I wonder if those same people are OK with Leonard getting the job.

[BoKnows81]

I do not see this as a continuity hire. I see it as the best option on the table. More importantly, I want us to invest in the defense to support the hire. Scheme only gets you so far, you have to have the talent to execute the scheme. Way too many missed tackles the last couple years and way to soft in the red zone. If he can get more talent, particularly on the front 4 he will be in a position to be fairly evaluated. Fortunately, this draft is deep on the defensive line.

Those issues purely come down to bad coaching.

[Attyla]

Those issues purely come down to bad coaching.

Yep, and that has got to be a focus, but if your talent is not there, even the best coached teams are going to miss tackles and be soft on every play. I can coach a player all day long but if he is slow and cannot execute that coaching I am still going to have those problems again and again.