The Raiders have spent the start of the new year league year restocking their defense.
Head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock addressed all three levels of the defense during the opening week of free agency, including landing linebacker Cory Littleton to help bolster a linebacking corps that has been a problem area for years.
Littleton was the Raiders' big fish, but they wanted to nab a second one. The Silver and Black made a three-year offer to cornerback Chris Harris, but the former Denver Bronco turned them down to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Harris told 9News' Mike Klis that he elected to sign with the Bolts because he "didn't feel comfortable" with the Raiders and liked the Chargers' defense led by Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Derwin James and Casey Hayward.
The veteran cornerback ended up signing for two years and $17 million, according to Klis.
Harris had been a star in the slot for Denver but struggled playing mostly outside in 2019. Of course, struggled is relative to the All-Pro level he played at before. Harris still was one of the top 30 cornerbacks, per PFF WAR, and would have been a good mentor for blossoming star Trayvon Mullen.
The Raiders instead signed Eli Apple, who is expected to compete for the starting job opposite Mullen. With the Raiders whiffing on Harris, though, they could look to draft a cornerback at No. 19 with the linebacker hole now filled. LSU's Kristian Fulton, Clemson's A.J. Terrell and Florida's C.J. Henderson are expected to be available later in the first round.
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Harris rebuffing the Raiders shows the Silver and Black still have a ways to go to build up what veterans believe is a championship-worthy defense. But the work Mayock and Gruden did by signing Littleton, Apple, edge rusher Carl Nassib, safety Jeff Heath, defensive tackle Maliek Collins and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski will go along way to improving what was a sieve of a unit last season.