Jaguars 1st-round bust hoping to keep NFL career alive with Raiders

Outside linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson surely hopes the third time is the charm. Having spent his first four seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the former first-round pick signed with the Carolina Panthers in free agency. However, he was let go before the start of free agency and is now trying to latch onto the Las Vegas Raiders.

Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 reports that Chaisson is trying out for the Raiders ahead of Week 2 of the regular season. There's no guarantee he will sign but Las Vegas could use much-needed depth behind star pass rusher Maxx Crosby.

Not long after Wilson's report, Jordan Schultz broke the news that Chaisson is expected to sign with the Silver & Black. As of this writing, though, the move hasn't been announced.

Update: The Raiders announced they signed K'Lavon Chaisson to their practice squad:

Crosby logged four pressures in the season opener while Adam Butler and John Jenkins had two each.

A first-round pick in 2020, Chaisson failed to hit his stride in Jacksonville. He was expected to join a rotation that included Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell. However, he was pressed into a bigger role when both veterans were traded. The fact that he had to acclimate to playing in a three-point stance after rushing the passer from a standup position at LSU didn't help matters. To nobody's surprise, the Texas native struggled as a rookie.

By his own admission, Chaisson had no idea what was going on until late in the 2020 season. He finished strong, registering 21 pressures in the last seven games. However, his performance didn't carry over into his sophomore campaign even though he switched back to standup linebacker under Urban Meyer.

Chaisson got a clean slate when Doug Pederson became the head coach in 2022 but wasn't able to do much with his new opportunity, registering a paltry one sack. Surprisingly, the former LSU Tiger got another chance in 2023 but that was mostly because Jacksonville had nobody else behind Travon Walker and Josh-Hines Allen. He did have a career-best two sacks but that was a pretty low bar to clear.

The Jags let Chaisson walk in free agency. He signed with Carolina, pointing out that he had the tools to be a playmaker. He only needed a chance. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to show how great he was, as he got his walking papers just months after signing.

K'Lavon Chaisson may just pan out with the Raiders

The Las Vegas Raiders are scraping the bottom of the barrel but desperate times call for desperate measures. They need pass-rush help with former first-round pick Tyree Wilson and Malcolm Koonce nursing injuries. Add the fact that K'Lavon Chaisson was the 20th overall pick in 2020 and it's easy to see why they're taking a flyer on him.

A reclamation project at this stage of his career, he'll continue to draw interest because he was a highly-coveted prospect coming out of college. In Las Vegas, he'll get to play for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who's managed to get the most out of his unit the past two years.

Similarly, Antonio Pierce is an old-school, no-nonsense coach who will make his team play hard. If there was an ideal landing spot for K'Lavon Chaisson, it's the Raiders. It will be up to Swiper to get the most out of his latest opportunity. But based on his track record, don't hold your breath.

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