Silver and Black Report

By Victor Cotto, S&B Report Staff Columnist

Oakland Raiders linebacker Sam Williams makes the stop

The Oakland Raiders overhauled their secondary and added some new talent along the defensive line during the off-season. But with the recent signing of Edgerton Hartwell, the Silver & Black hope that this under the radar transaction can pay large dividends on a unit that already features two of their best defenders.

With Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison firmly cemented as cornerstones on the defense, it is easy to overlook the third member of the linebacker group – the strong side linebacker – a position in which the likes of Sam Williams and Robert Thomas have attempted to lock down the past two-seasons.

The former Baltimore Raven and Atlanta Falcon has played only 13-games the last two years due to injuries to both knees and Achilles tendon. But during his years in Baltimore, Hartwell became one of the better linebackers in the league, taking over in 2002 in the middle for the then injured Ray Lewis and becoming a force versus the run.

Hartwell averaged well over 100 tackles per season as a Raven, but when he became a free agent, Atlanta lured him with a six-year contract totaling $26.25 million, which included an $8 million signing bonus. Injuries beset his career there and an attempt to revive his career in Cincinnati in 2007 with his former coach in Baltimore Marvin Lewis failed after they released him prior to even playing a single game for the Bengals.

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If healthy, Hartwell brings some interesting questions to the unit.

He is adept at playing inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme, and the middle linebacker spot in a traditional 4-3 set. Lewis in Cincinnati flirted with the idea of playing him at weak side linebacker so he can maneuver around more freely towards the ball carrier in an attempt to boost a weak rush defense. But that spot in Oakland belongs to Howard, and with the amount of big plays they got from that position and his speed, the Raiders will likely have no intentions to experiment with Hartwell there.

On the strong side, Hartwell’s size and run stuffing abilities could help the Raiders in their biggest area of need.

Incumbents such as Williams and Thomas have shown that they are not capable of being full time starters on the strong side, as Oakland elected to go to many Nickel packages in recent years to masquerade problems on their defense.

But with stuffing the run being such a priority this off-season and the fact that they added so much cover ability to the secondary; the need for someone to step up at strong side linebacker became apparent.

In a perfect world, Hartwell would turn back the hands of time, take over in the middle, and then the Raiders can shift Morrison over to the strong side. Morrison showed he could handle playing in space last season – as often Rob Ryan dropped his linebackers deep into coverage – and he can move away from a spot where fullbacks and offensive lineman target him in an attempt to plow him out of plays.

But Hartwell is a few years removed from his prime and has an injury plagued background he must shed.

At 30, the low risk signing of Hartwell was a smart move for a team looking for ways to improve every aspect of a run defense that has been one of the worst in the NFL since 2003.

With minimal cap implications and the need for the depth there as well, it will be interesting to see what can they milk out of Hartwell.

One things for sure, Williams and Thomas will have more than themselves to look out for when training camp opens and the fight begins on who will start at linebacker with the up and comers, Howard and Morrison.