Raiders free agency: Darius Philon visits

In somewhat of a surprise, the Las Vegas Raiders hosted free agent defensive tackle Darius Philon for a visit on Thursday.

Philon played for Las Vegas in 2021, ending a three-season hiatus from playing in the NFL and he became a solid part of the rotation at the position. Philon played in 11 games and had 27 tackles and two sacks for Las Vegas last season. He suffered a major knee injury late in the Raiders’ Week 18 playoff-clinching win over his former team, the Chargers. Philon did not play in the Raiders’ playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

It is not known when he will be ready to play. Philon’s injury status, couple with that he was a natural fit for the previous Las Vegas regime makes this visit a bit surprising. He reunited with his Chargers’ defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley, with the Raiders. Bradley is now the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts and has been reunited with Raiders defenders Yannick Ngakoue and Brandon Facyson.

The new Raiders’ defense has had a major change at defensive tackle. They brought in four defensive tackles, including Johnathan Hankins, who had been with the Raiders. He, though, has experience playing for new Las Vegas defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

It will be interesting to see if the Raiders end up signing Philon.