The Oakland Raiders made a huge hire in bringing in defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, who is already paying dividends in 2019.

The 2018 Oakland Raiders defensive line was for sure not it’s strong point. Pressuring the quarterback was an issue all season, as the team tallied a league low 13 sacks. The team sack leader was rookie defensive tackle Maurice Hurst who only had four.

Changes surely had to be made on the defensive line, one of the Raiders most significant offseason moves was selecting defensive end Clelin Ferrell in the first round of the NFL draft. Although this was a major acquisition, another major move was one made internally on the coaching staff.

Enter Brentson Buckner. A former defensive tackle who played 11 seasons in the NFL, he was hired this offseason as the defensive line coach for the Raiders. Buckner was previously the defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and prior to that was the defensive line coach for five seasons for the Arizona Cardinals.

Buckner replaced Mike Trgovac as the defensive line coach. Trgovac a long time coach in the NFL had an extensive resume, but the issue with Trgovac is that unlike Buckner, he never played in the NFL.

Buckner as seen recently in HBO’s hard knocks, is a fiery personality. He will bring NFL experience with a passion and drive that the young Raider defensive line is in desperate need of.

I recently interviewed Brentson Buckner to discuss his plans for the up coming season as well as the defensive line