Raiders Have A Great Deal of Aspirations For Rookie DE Jack Crawford

– Jun 29, 2012

The word moved around the NFL too quickly on Oakland Raiders fifth-round defensive end Jack Crawford that he’s project player, having not played football until he was a junior in high school and after moving from England to the United States.

Of course in Raiders head coach Dennis Allen’s mind, it didn’t stop him from knowing his ability to contribute to his team in a great way from the get-go in 2012. Dennis Allen told Paul Gutierrez of CSN Bay Area:

"He's big, athletic, runs really well, and he's had some production, and so again we look for versatility in guys and we try to find roles for specific guys and I think as you look at him, as we get a chance to work with him, I think we're going to be able to define a pretty good role for him."

During his 49-game career at Penn State, Crawford produced 14 sacks. As a sophomore he had incredible season making 31 tackles, was tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries, had one forced fumble and three pass breakups.  

The stories that haunt Crawford stem from his lack of focus and creativity in developing his skills to become a  true pass-rusher. Some say that he isn't working on his technique to add more physical ability in his moves. A similar description applies to the majority of pass-rushers during their rookie season. 

Crawford certainly has the potential of becoming a great success in the NFL; he is undeniably huge (6-foot-5 and 274 pounds, with 33 1/2-inch arms and 10 1/4-inch hands). According to Football Outsiders’ SackSEER, the virtual model projects five-year sack totals for incoming 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 outside linebackers, it indicates that Crawford is projected to collect 10 sacks this season. 

Gutierrez completes his notes about Crawford saying he was not a stand-out performer during last month OTA’s or minicamps.

But with the new collective bargaining agreement in effect, it prevents interaction between players and coaches about football between minicamps, so this does not really come as a surprise.

As the Raiders head to training camp we'll learn more about what Crawford will bring the table once the pads are put on and defenses actually get to hit for the first time on July 29th.

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