{"id":762683,"date":"2026-02-19T15:53:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/762683\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:53:30","slug":"3-las-vegas-raiders-make-the-athletics-top-150-free-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/762683\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Las Vegas Raiders make The Athletic\u2019s Top 150 free agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve hit the free agency ranking period of the 2026 offseason, and The Athletic\u2019s Daniel Popper<\/a> released his Top 150 impending free agency. Popper\u2019s list included three Las Vegas Raiders: cornerback Eric Stokes, guard Dylan Parham and defensive end Malcolm Koonce. Let\u2019s see what he had to say about each of them.<\/p>\n

Eric Stokes<\/p>\n

Rank: 47 (CB5)<\/p>\n

A 2021 first-round pick with the Packers, Stokes hit free agency last offseason and had to settle for a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Raiders. He played well in coordinator Patrick Graham\u2019s scheme, and now he is positioned for a more lucrative free-agent deal. Stokes has length and speed. He is sticky in man coverage and can press at the line of scrimmage with his frame. He is an athletic dropper in zone who is able to keep vision on the quarterback while maintaining positioning within the coverage. Stokes could be more physical in run support, but he is not a liability in this phase. \u2014 Popper<\/p>\n

Stokes is the biggest conundrum that John Spytek will have when it comes to the Raiders\u2019 in-house free agents. The cornerback had a good year, but he also didn\u2019t get tested much since the defense had issues at the other cornerback spot and covering the middle of the field. So, it could come down to the pricetag, and Popper projects Stokes to fetch a two-year, $20 million contract this offseason. If that\u2019s all it takes, it\u2019d be completely reasonable to re-sign him.<\/p>\n

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Dylan Parham<\/p>\n

Rank: 78 (G9)<\/p>\n

Parham has quick feet to mirror rushers and get himself out of compromised positions as a pass protector. He lacks the pad level and power to generate consistent movement in the run game. The pad level issues also show up in pass protection against bull rushes. He loses balance and leverage too often, and he is susceptible on T-E stunts. He lacks some feel and awareness in these situations. \u2014 Popper<\/p>\n

While Parham has been a solid starter in Las Vegas, it feels like the team was constantly waiting for him to take the next step, and it never happened. The 2022 third-round pick is an average to above-average starter, and the Raiders should be looking to upgrade the position during free agency, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Maclolm Koonce <\/p>\n

Rank: 81 (EDGE12)<\/p>\n

Koonce is a disruptive pass rusher who uses unorthodox hesitation moves. He puts rushers to sleep and then explodes. He will flash as a run defender, but he is not consistent enough in this phase to be a true above-average starter. He projects best as a situational rusher who can come on for obvious passing downs. \u2014 Popper<\/p>\n

Spytek gave Koonce a \u201cprove-it\u201d deal last year, allowing the pass-rusher an opportunity to have the contract year he was robbed of with the torn ACL ahead of the 2024 campaign. However, Koonce didn\u2019t have the same explosiveness that helped him rack up eight sacks a couple of seasons ago. In other words, he didn\u2019t \u201cprove it,\u201d so it seems like the Raiders will likely move on from him this spring.<\/p>\n

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In Other Raiders\u2019 Links:<\/p>\n

Raiders don\u2019t want to trade Maxx Crosby<\/a>: \u201cI was told that the Raiders don\u2019t want to trade him and that if they even contemplated it, it would take a Micah Parsons-type package,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter said on 97.5 The Fanatic\u2019s\u00a0\u201cKincade and Salciunas\u201d<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s what I was told. Do I think they\u2019re getting two ones and a player? No. Do I think that they\u2019re going to want to trade him? No. Do I think he\u2019ll be traded?\u2026It\u2019ll change by the week, but it\u2019s certainly possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Cappa named potential salary cap casualty<\/a>: \u201cOne of the many Raiders mistakes of last offseason was rushing to pay Cappa $5 million,\u201d The Athletic\u2019s Ted Nguyen<\/a> wrote. \u201cHe was coming off a season in which he played like one of the worst starting guards in the league, didn\u2019t look much better last season and couldn\u2019t help a Raiders line that struggled. He\u2019s scheduled to make $6 million next year but the Raiders can save $5 million ($1 million in dead cap) by cutting him and adding to their wealth of cap space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve hit the free agency ranking period of the 2026 offseason, and The Athletic\u2019s Daniel Popper released his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7037,1303,42047,7044,482,7,4609,1744,393,2455,2454,262,6562,6563,6,20223,428,525,5654],"class_list":{"0":"post-762683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-alex-cappa","9":"tag-ashton-jeanty","10":"tag-daniel-popper","11":"tag-dylan-parham","12":"tag-eric-stokes","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-free-agency","15":"tag-las-vegas","16":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","17":"tag-lasvegas","18":"tag-lasvegasraiders","19":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","20":"tag-malcolm-koonce","21":"tag-maxx-crosby","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-nfl-football-game","24":"tag-packers","25":"tag-raiders","26":"tag-the-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116098106386969626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}