New FSM Preview: 2023 Las Vegas Raiders Position Breakdown: Linebackers

The often-injured Denzel Perryman is being replaced by a player who played in 16 games last season and 14 games the season before, respectively. Although Robert Spillane played in most of those games, he was rarely the starter. That is set to change in Las Vegas, as the five-year veteran has a chance to put his experience to use as the leader of the Raiders defense.

“They told me I was going to come in and be given the opportunity to be a green dot and to play and to really be a leader of this team. I hope to come in and earn respect from not only my coaches but from my teammates as well.”

The Raiders completely retooled their linebacker position over the offseason. The Silver and Black decided to let Perryman walk and brought in Spillane, a veteran linebacker from Western Michigan University, who spent the last four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The move is consistent with most of the other moves the Raiders‘ front office have made this offseason.

Those moves usually centered around value, experience, and availability. Spillane checks all of those boxes.

” I mean, it comes down to leadership, showing guys what we want to be as a defense. And not just by talking in the meetings, going out there and practicing every day, showing that effort, showing the attack on the football. I’m going to keep reiterating that because that’s the main point of emphasis for me, and I want the guys around me ball hungry. I mean, good players make 100 tackles. They might get a contract the next year, and they might not. You are a linebacker with five-plus turnovers, and you’re going to be in this league a long time. So, I’m telling the guys to find ways to get that ball out and make plays. Defense is coming together in terms of communication, effort, discipline, the things that we want to really focus and improve on in the offseason. So, just from day one to day four, our effort to the ball, our effort attacking the ball at the finish has been already — we’re raising that standard. So, we’ve just got to keep holding each other accountable, and good things will happen.”

“A lot of ups and downs. I would say there were some good games, some bad games. I just tried to learn every week from my mistakes and try and get better every play. Definitely trying to take that next step this year and learn from my mistakes last year. I have some core things that I’m trying to work on and get better at.”

Masterson continued.

“Robert [Spillane] is awesome. He comes every day with a championship mindset. He attacks every drill like it’s his last drill ever. Film sessions are awesome with him. He speaks up if you got a question. He’s a great dude. I love his energy, and it’s definitely infectious for the linebacker room, and it’s exciting having him around.”