Say it ain’t Sio! It appears that Oakland Raiders linebacker Sio Moore will miss at least the start of training camp coming off of hip surgery back in February. Moore, whose season ended on injured reserve last season, has yet to put together a full season in two years despite showing promising flashes on the field. When Moore isn’t dapping fellow Raiders linebacker, Khalil Mack, 40 yards in the Chiefs backfield, he’s consistently causing havoc for opposing quarterbacks and tailbacks, alike.
Coming off a 90 (67 solo, 23 assisted) tackle and 3 sack year from just 11 starts, Moore will enter 2015 as a projected week one starter despite his early camp set back. Although Moore has showed promise coming off two successful seasons—especially for a 3rd round pick in a weak draft class—he’s got a bit more work to do before he can cash in on the check he wrote on himself during the 2013 draft when he said, “the Oakland Raiders got the best linebacker in the draft, I don’t care who went before.” With names like Manti Te’o, Jarvis Jones, and Jonathan Bostic, Moore doesn’t really have that much climbing to do before his prediction comes true (only Kiko Alonso stands in his way).
Whenever Moore is healthy enough to rejoin the lineup, he’ll enter a group that is both starkly different and drastically improved from last season. With Miles Burress and his league worst missed tackle rate no longer on the roster, the Raiders will turn to a group led be second year phenom, Khalil Mack, and new additions Malcolm Smith and Curtis Lofton. Perhaps the linchpin to the Raiders’ second level success, though, is new defensive coordinator and former Seahawks linebackers coach, Ken Norton Jr. While looking at Seattle’s linebacking corps might not be directly indicative of how Mack, Moore, and company will perform in 2015, it sure does give the team and fans confidence that the group is headed in the right direction.
