Raiders week 15 snap counts vs Bengals: Marquel Lee productive despite limited defensive snaps

By week four of this season, the Raiders realized what the Chiefs and pretty much everyone else already had; that Derrick Johnson was done. At that same time, they were discovering that Marquel Lee was a much better option. He would have 10 tackles in the team’s win over the Browns, beginning a string of seven straight starts at the middle linebacker spot.

Lee was looking much improved from his rookie season, but soon he would start getting his plays usurped by undrafted rookie Jason Cabinda, suggesting the team is still looking for an answer at the middle linebacker spot. And with the way the defense has been playing, there are a lot of questions unanswered.

By week ten, Lee’s snaps had dropped below 50% and haven’t risen back above that since then. For the past six weeks he and Cabinda have seen nearly identical snap counts, each a fraction of the near full games fellow linebackers Tahir Whitehead and Nicholas Morrow have seen.

Despite seeing just 34 snaps (42%) against the Bengals, Lee finished second the team with 6 combined tackles (4 solo) with a tackle for loss. He also played 29 special teams snaps, adding a tackle there as well. It’s his highest tackle output since week 8 when he had a career-high 11 combined tackles.