You might call Reggie McKenzie and Jack Del Rio experts on middle linebacker duties, considering both played the position in the NFL.

So hearing that Del Rio, the Raiders coach, considers that a position of need holds water with Raider Nation.

“I don’t know that we’ve adequately addressed our middle linebacker position, to be honest,” Del Rio said Thursday on NFL Network. “I think we have some work to do there. The rest of our roster is pretty well situated, but we’ll be looking for a linebacker and we’ll continue to look, whether it’s the waiver wire, trades or available guys out there, veterans on the street. We’ll continue to look.

“The guys that are here, we’re going to develop and grow and hope we can take them to a higher level.”

That’s a somewhat different tone to a similar truth set by McKenzie, the general manager, before the NFL Draft.

McKenzie mentioned the Raiders would get “a couple” of linebackers by season’s start and the team drafted just one: Marquel Lee out of Wake Forest. McKenzie certainly thinks highly of Lee.

“Number one, he’s very instinctive,” McKenzie said during draft weekend. “He’s an inside linebacker primarily, he’s a middle linebacker. He plays with strength. He has a feel for the game. He’s a great size. He’s what we look for in a big, middle linebacker.”

Lee is expected to be a starter by Bay Area News Group NFL reporter Jerry McDonald, who wrote about how the Raiders’ linebackers look in an overview of how the roster stacks up. The other starters are expected to be Bruce Irvin and Jelani Jenkins, with Khalil Mack adding time there and more help being provided by Shilique Calhoun, James Cowser, Cory James, Ben Heeney, Andy Mulumba, Dwayne Norman and Neiron Ball.

But with only Lee also on board thanks to the draft, the Raiders could look elsewhere for another linebacker. One popular candidate is free agent Perry Riley Jr., a seven-year veteran who had 48 tackles and two forced fumbles while starting in 11 games for Oakland last season.

“We’ll see. That’s an ongoing evaluation,” McKenzie said of picking up Riley. “We’ll see what we got coming in. We’ll have the rookie mini-camp and then we’ll have everybody together. If we need to add someone else, we will. No, I never close the door until it’s time to get the roster together.”