Jerry Tillery has a big role on defensive line

One of the surprises of the Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 1 victory at the Denver Broncos is how the team used veteran defensive lineman Jerry Tillery.

Tillery, who was signed late last season. had been a defensive tackle. But with starting defensive end Chandler Jones away from the team because of a personal issue, the Raiders started Tillery at defensive end.

Tillery moved around in the game, but it did give the coaching staff some flexibility, knowing they can use him at defensive end if needed and with Jones’ situation unsettled, we may see Tillery, who had one of the Raiders’ two sacks and finished the game with three tackles, being used at defensive end again Sunday at the Buffalo Bills.

Raiders coach Josh McDaniels was happy with Tillery’s effort and called his willingness to play a new position “unselfish.”

“Yeah, JT played a multitude of roles for us, and I thought there were some really good football plays in the running game,” McDaniels said this week. “Strong on the edge, did some things in the pass rush. Had the one offsides penalty in a fourth down situation that we’ll learn from, and then there was a couple things that certainly we can clean up in the run and in the rush, but Jerry’s a good football player and he’s been unselfish. He’s played a lot of different roles, worn a lot of different hats for us and, he contributed to the success that we had on defense yesterday in both phases.”