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Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackles key in allowing edge rushers Maxx Crosby, Chandler Jones to thrive

Covered Oakland Raiders for and Sacramento Bee for eight years

Member of Pro Football Writers Association

Previously worked at Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev. --Johnathan HankinsandBilal Nicholsboth came off the PUP list last week, and no, that rumble you heard emanating from near theLas Vegas Raiderscompound was not the latest monsoon rolling through Sin City.

The Raiders getting their two projected starting defensive tackles out of the training room from undisclosed injuries and onto the practice field provided more than a feel-good story.

Certainly, we now have more depth than what weve been practicing with, for sure, first-year Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said. I think anytime you add players back, in this case two defensive linemen that we have some hopes for, it kind of reallocates the repetitions. It re-slots everyone into maybe a role that maybe fits them perfectly, or better than what we were doing before. I see those guys as guys that can contribute.

Consider: the Raiders, under McDaniels and new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, have reimagined the defensive line, especially its interior. Because while there is no doubt about the roles of star edge rushersMaxx CrosbyandChandler Jones, Hankins was the only pure interior D-lineman brought back by the Raiders new regime (Kendal Vickersrotates between the interior and edge).

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And, as noted above, Hankins started training camp on PUP.

Gone areQuinton Jefferson(4.5 sacks in 2021),Solomon Thomas(3.5), Darius Philon (2.0) andDamion Square(0.5), taking 10.5 of the Raiders 35 sacks from last season with them. In their place are free agents Nichols,Andrew BillingsKyle PekoTyler LancasterandVernon Butler(who was released Aug. 16) and draft picksNeil Farrell Jr. andMatthew Butler.

Keep in mind, while the Raiders depth chart shows a 4-3 alignment -- Hankins and Peko started at defensive tackle in Las Vegas exhibition at theMiami Dolphinslast weekend, while Peko and Billings started the first two preseason games -- Grahams scheme has plenty of 3-4 sensibilities.

Coach Pat got us going through a couple of different formations, Peko said with a smile. Up front, the more you can do, the better. So I think for all the interior guys, knowing each end knows the three-tech spot, its just beneficial for the whole defense in the long run.

We know the vision Josh has -- he wants us to win the line of scrimmage, so weve got to be heavy handed, Graham said early in camp. Weve got to come out of our hips. Weve got to strike people. Right now, were not striking people; were hitting sleds. But you see ... improvement, you see the pad level.

I always think about young defensive linemen -- when theyre in college, theyre better than everybody. Here, everybodys good. You better get your pads down, or youre going to get embarrassed. So thats been a big focus.

Farrell, a fourth-round pick from LSU, and Butler, a fifth-rounder from Tennessee, played 27 and 22 snaps, respectively, against the Dolphins, with Farrell finishing with three tackles. A week earlier, each played 15 snaps against theMinnesota Vikings.

We have the same perspective, were both rookies, Butler said of himself and Farrell. We just bounce things off of each other after practice and work off with each other during practice.

Kendal Vickers has been a friend of mine since my freshman year at Tennessee, Butler added. Hes been great. Also, Bilal Nichols. Hes been in this league for five or six years now. But really, I mean, whether its Tyler, whether its A.B., whether its Hank, everybody in the room has been pouring [information] into myself and Neil and the rest of the team. And we try to [absorb it] by just giving our all, day by day.

The rookies spoke to the media the same day a mini-melee broke out between Crosby and third-round pickDylan Parham, an interior offensive lineman.

Everybody is just out there competing, trying to make one another better, Farrell said. Thats all we do every day. Try to push each other, go hard and give it the best weve got. Every day.

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I feel like everybody gears for improvement. Ive got to get better at fundamentals and techniques. Thats just coming in, working every day at practice and just doing what I have to do to get better.

The return of Hankins, though, showed just what an impact he can have for the D-line in particular, and the entire defense in general. Especially since he was playing mostly against Dolphins starters and controlling the line of scrimmage in his 13 snaps.

A position that I would say, for the most part, has been a little bit thin during the course of camp, has now kind of taken a boost here, McDaniels said of Hankins returning, while anticipating the debut of Nichols. Now it feels like we have some more depth up front, some more combinations.

We bumped Kendal Vickers out to the end a little bit this last week because we have a little bit more depth inside. It allows us to make some moves and some decisions that maybe we didnt have the flexibility to make earlier, which affects and impacts the entire defense.