Kansas City Chiefs: Will Derrick Johnson Make Raiders 53-Man Roster

Former Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Derrick Johnson signed with the Oakland Raiders this offseason but isn’t locked into the final roster.

The Kansas City Chiefs decided to move on from inside linebacker Derrick Johnson this offseason as general manager Brett Veach looks to transition the defense. As one of the fan favorites and great contributor on defense for many years in Kansas City, it’s hard to watch him go. It made it even harder as Johnson signed with the Oakland Raiders later in the offseason.

I understand that Johnson must go where he has a shot at playing, and I have no spite for him going to Oakland. Although, I will not be rooting for him two games of the season now.

Regardless, Oakland has struggled to solve their linebacker position this offseason. After bringing in NaVorro Bowman in last season to play in ten games and having a great season despite coming in late, the Raiders failed to bring him back.

Johnson will likely start next to Tahir Whitehead who came in from Detroit this offseason. New head coach John Gruden has not been afraid to bring in older talent this offseason. In fact, that seems to be all he wants to do.

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While the plan is for Johnson to start, there are plenty of questions going around about how much he has left in the tank. We saw him fall off last season tremendously in both the running and passing game. It would seem that Johnson’s injuries are finally catching up to him. He also wasn’t as mentally aware last season often hitting the wrong gaps or taking bad angles to the ball carrier.

Even if Johnson were to make the roster, I doubt he would be a full-time contributor. Given his injuries and decline, it would be hard to see the Raiders not deploying other linebackers in most situations. Oakland has second-year linebackers Marquel Lee and Nicholas Morrow on the roster that could take some of Johnson’s playing time.

In a league that is continuing to become a spread out offense type of league, that works against Johnson. The 35-year-old veteran linebackers speed has fallen off tremendously the last two seasons keeping him from being able to stay out on obvious passing downs.

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Oakland could still sign Bowman as the team enters training camp later this month which would either keep Johnson to very limited snaps or not on the roster at all. To be honest, it’s possible that he could be cut during training camp roster breakdowns. Will Johnson get a final shot at playing in the NFL in 2018 or will he be cut following the preseason?

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