The Oakland Raiders have done a good job of adding talent this offseason in free agency and the draft and general manager Reggie McKenzie continued to do that again on Thursday, as they signed linebacker Sio Moore to a contract.
According to ESPN.com, the team signed Moore, who was selected by the team in the third round after talking DJ Hayden in the first and Menelik Watson in the second, to a contract after mandatory minicamp ended, leaving Wilson still to be signed. Moore was an excellent player at Connecticut and he was fourth on the team last season with over 70 tackles and during his time with the Huskies he proved to be an excellent player while working on the pass or the run on defense. He stayed with the Huskies through his senior season and played in 41 games during that time, including 31 starts.
Moore comes to the Raiders with a good pedigree and he was first-team All-Big East Conference two different times and now he gives the team depth at the position, The Raiders have done a good job of overhauling their defense and linebacking corps during the offseason, bringing in Nick Roach and Kevin Burnett to make up for the loss of players and to bolster the roster. The team struggled at times on defense last season and McKenzie used that as his basis for signing a number of players and for also letting safety Michael Huff go, despite him being a former first round pick.
McKenzie and coach Dennis Allen like the defense and Allen is optimistic about the secondary after spending time in the past with the Saints as the coach. Theteam brought in Hayden with its first round picks and also signed Mike Jenkins and Tracy Porter to be cornerbacks, while Charles Woodson made his return at safety. The additions in the secondary will help a unit that was ranked 20th in the league in yards per game allowed and the linebackers will help shore up a running game that at times last season was awful.
The offense is expected to be much better as well, as the team traded away Carson Palmer and added Matt Flynn as well as number of rookies in Nick Kasa, Latavius Murray and Brice Butler, who all could end up contributing. The Raiders are expecting big things from Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore and if running back Darren McFadden can stay healthy, there is a good chance the offense will improve and the 4-12 record form last season will likely be better this year in the AFC West.