Raiders trade for Dolphins linebacker Raekwon McMillan
The nearly non-stop tinkering the Raiders have done at linebacker since last season may have finally resulted in a completely overhauled starting unit. The club on Saturday traded for veteran linebacker Raekwon McMillan from the Miami Dolphins.
The Raiders will send a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft to the Dolphins for McMillan and the Dolphins’ fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft. The deal will be finalized after McMillan takes his physical and goes through COVID-19 protocols. He was on his way to Las Vegas on Saturday.
McMillan, a run-stuffing linebacker who has 177 tackles in 28 career starts over his first three NFL seasons, is a former second-round pick in 2017 out of Ohio State. He missed his rookie season with a knee injury but has been a productive player in the two seasons since.
McMillan is expected to compete for a starting job alongside newcomers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski in the Raiders’ rebuilt linebacking corps. The sense is he is the leading candidate to win the third linebacker spot in the base defense, although veteran Nicholas Morrow will still have a say in that outcome.
The Raiders invested heavily at linebacker in the offseason, adding both Littleton and Kwiatkoski through free agency and then drafting Tanner Muse from Clemson in the third round.
Muse, a safety in college, is still making a transition to linebacker and it might take some time for him to get his legs under him. And while undrafted free agent Javin White of UNLV has made an impression in camp, he might not be ready to assume a prominent role yet.
That has left veterans Morrow and Kyle Wilbur as the primary candidates to win the starting job alongside Littleton and Kwiatkoski, with veteran Kyle Emanuel recently added to strengthen the competition.
McMillan, though, offers the size and run-stopping abilities the Raiders are seeking at that position and adds a physical presence the Raiders need.
If he wins the starting job, he will complete a total overhaul of one of the Raiders’ weakest positions last year and potentially make it one of the defense’s strengths.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter.
