Raiders’ Key aims for sack-happy ’19
Shortly after being hired as the Raiders’ defensive line coach this offseason, Brentson Buckner called defensive end Arden Key into his office at team headquarters in Alameda.
“He brought me upstairs,” Key said Wednesday, “and … yeah.”
Buckner proceeded to show Key a video montage of what Key called “my almost-13 sacks” last season.
“Whether I fell, slipped, the quarterback got away,” Key said. “It was very nerve-racking.”
Key, a 2018 thirdround draft pick from LSU, finished his rookie year with one sack although he played the most snaps of any Oakland defensive lineman. It was an underwhelming number for Key, who set the LSU season record in 2016 with 12 sacks as a sophomore.
“It stung me a lot,” Key said. “I could’ve had a better first year, but we all learn from those mistakes.”
In multiple ways, Key’s first season did not go as planned. The Raiders drafted Key intending to use him as a thirddown pass-rush specialist off the edge behind Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin. They then traded Mack before the season and released Irvin in November. Key was thrust into being an every-down defensive end.
Meanwhile, Key said Wednesday, he was not playing at full health. Key said he sustained a shoulder injury in training camp last year and played through it during the season. He did not miss a game, and led the Raiders with 11 quarterback hits. Key said he had a “clean-out” surgery on the shoulder in January, terming it “nothing too serious.”
Still, Key said, the missed sack opportunities last year ate at him. Asked to name the most frustrating, Key cited a play in Week 2 at Denver, a game the Raiders lost 20-19 on a field goal with six seconds remaining.
“I grabbed Case Keenum and brought him down, but if I just had hit the ball, (it’s) a sackfumble, and the game would’ve been over,” Key said.
Head coach Jon Gruden pointed out Key’s close calls late last year, saying Key has “just got to be a better finisher when he gets home.”
Key, though, said Wednesday that Buckner’s teaching has stressed the importance of the early part of the pass-rush process.
“He started off with, I missed the sack by just my alignment,” Key said. “The ball ain’t snapped yet, and I missed the sack already by my alignment — whether I was too wide, too tight, I didn’t turn my hips enough … different things like that. But most of it was just alignment and knowing what angles to take, because football’s all about angles.”
After totaling a leagueworst 13 sacks last season, the Raiders drafted defensive ends in Clelin Ferrell (first round), Maxx Crosby (fourth) and Quinton Bell (seventh), and signed free agents Josh Mauro and Benson Mayowa. Ferrell is seen as a three-down player, but whether Key will start opposite Ferrell or be used mostly in passrushing scenarios remains to be seen.
Part of Key’s offseason focus, via the Raiders, was to add weight to his 6-foot-5 frame. Gruden last month said Key “has to get stronger to be more complete” and that the Raiders would like to see Key in the range of 260-270 pounds. Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, though, said the Raiders don’t want Key, a quick pass rusher, “to be a 260-pound slug out there.”
Key on Wednesday said he reported for offseason workouts at 245 pounds but is already up to 260, thanks to nutritional team-provided meals. He sounded excited about the additions to the Raiders’ defensive line — including Ferrell, with whom he played in the 2015 Under Armour AllAmerica Game coming out of high school.
“He just got better,” Key said of Ferrell, whom the Raiders drafted fourth overall. “Great defending the run. I’m a better pass rusher. But it’s all good. It’s all coming together. Especially with Coach Buck, following him. The D-line’s going to be something different this year.”