Oakland

Former Seahawk Smith Appears Primed to Start at Linebacker

Absence of Moore, plus Smith's strong summer, have one-time Super Bowl MVP locked in at weakside linebacker for opening game

Earlier this week, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio publicly voiced his concern that outside linebacker Sio Moore – who’s been a big part of the Oakland defense the past two years – was losing precious time in his bid to hang on to his starting role.

Moore, who’s been fighting through a hip injury that has put him on the sideline, now appears to have lost his job to Malcolm Smith, the former Seattle Seahawk who was signed as a free agent this offseason.

“I think right now (Moore’s) competing to be a role player somewhere,” Del Rio told reporters. “We’ve got to make sure he can do that. … The team, we moved forward. We’ll see.”

But given the strong play of Smith during this training camp and two games of the exhibition season, it seems possible that he might have beaten out Moore even without the injury.

New Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. was his linebackers coach in Seattle and at USC and believes in him. Plus, Smith has looked very good as the weakside starter. In limited play over two games, Smith has four tackles, plus he’s brought a winning attitude, experience, smarts and leadership to the defense.

“I have known Malcolm for a long time,” Norton told the media this week. “I recruited him in high school when he was a running back, so we’ve been together for a while. He’s really smart, an economics major at USC, knows the game. If you can tell, he’s a guy that is always around the ball. He has a rabbit’s foot in his pocket. Good things always happen to him.

“You want players on your team that are smart, hard-working and have good luck. Good things happen. So Malcolm is a type of guy that you want on your squad.”

Smith showed off that luck in Super Bowl XLVIII when he was voted Most Valuable Player after returning an interception 69 yards for a touchdown, recovering a fumble and being in on nine tackles in Seattle’s victory over Denver.

During this camp, Del Rio said Smith “seems to come up with turnovers every day.”

“He understands what we’re trying to get done,” said Del Rio.

He and the rest of the Raiders linebacking corps will have two more exhibition games to get ready for the regular season, including Sunday night’s matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.

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