The Raiders are set to sign Cory Littleton, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). When the league year opens on Wednesday, Littleton will ink a three-year deal worth up to $36MM. The deal includes $22MM guaranteed, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com adds (via Twitter).
The Rams wanted to keep Littleton, but their budget was stretched. This offseason, the Rams put a greater focus on retaining players like Andrew Whitworth, Austin Blythe, Michael Brockers, and Dante Fowler, leaving little room to retain the 26-year-old (27 in November).
Littleton, a University of Washington product, went from part-timer to starter in 2018 and wound up earning his first career Pro Bowl nod. Last year, he kept up the good work – in the two seasons combined, he tallied 7.5 sacks, even though much of his attention was focused on coverage. He has graded as one of the league’s best coverage linebackers in each of the past two seasons and will profile as a three-down defender for the Raiders.
The Raiders have been on the hunt for new linebackers, especially after cutting Tahir Whitehead last week. Now, between Littleton and new addition Nick Kwiatkoski, they’re in pretty good shape.
Last year, the Raiders opted for low-cost veterans Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall but saw the latter struggle with injury and end up not making the team and the former suspended for most of the season. But in Jon Gruden‘s third year, he’s leaving less to chance at the linebacker spot. Las Vegas has shelled out cash to shore up a position the franchise has not allocated much in the way of resources toward in many years.
Hell yes.
Love it. Signed two quality linebackers to try and fill that massive hole in the middle. With Abram next year this is already a whole new defense.
Kwiatkoski just a back up at best.
You know what our linebackers have been like the last few years? Upgrade for us!
Exactly! I fully expect they’ll still draft a LB, but Kwiatkoski is still depth, at worst, on a unit that was bad. With Littleton, it’s looking a whole, whole lot stronger.
There is some decent talent out there in the 20-30 range, with Queen, Murray, even Baun. One way or another, the addition of these guys, plus 5 picks in the top 3 rounds, we should be a lot more solid.