Tommy Kelly has atleast looked good on paper, but has also received criticism from fans. But regardless of whether you like him or not he is the best we have and shouldn't be asked to do it all by himself.
Now the Raiders defense will look a little more promising with the addition of John Henderson, but how much better?
One of the Raiders biggest problems at defensive tackle is they have shown a tendency to start the season with only three defensive tackles on the active roster. Despite running the 4-3 defense which required two DTs on the field at all times. For example in 2009 they started the season with only Tommy Kelly, Gerrard Warren and Desmond Bryant on the roster, waiting until week ten to add a fourth in William Joseph.
In 2008 they started the season with Tommy Kelly, Gerrard Warren and Terdel Sands, again waiting until mid season to add William Joseph to the roster.
This raises a few questions. Will the Raiders, again, start the season with only three defensive tackles on the roster? Or will they show some conventional wisdom and finally go with four? Who will those three or four players be?
Richard Seymour and Lamarr Houston are on the roster playing defensive end at over 300 pounds. So the Raiders may opt to go with only three defensive tackles on the roster because they have the flexibility to move these two guys inside.
But if they've learned anything from the past few seasons and are tired of being towards the bottom of the league in rush defense, then they may be be encouraged to go with four defensive tackles on the active roster.
As it stands now there are seven defensive tackles battling it out for three, maybe four roster spots: Tommy Kelly, Desmond Bryant, William Joseph, Chris Cooper, Ryan Boschetti, Kellen Heard and now John Henderson. Only one, Kellen Heard, is elig...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
