Raiders defense: Tre’von Moehrig a mainstay or free agency loss?

Safety is putting together his best season as rookie contract is up this offseason

Coming into the league as a takeaway artist who profiles more as a deep safety, Tre’von Moehrig’s game has certainly evolved over the course of his four seasons in Silver & Black.

The Las Vegas Raiders safety is now an all-around type rather than a one-dimensional defender which is solid progression for the second round pick from the 2021 NFL Draft. Taken with the 43rd overall pick the Jim Thorpe Award winner was a pure thief at TCU. That wasn’t on full display in Moehrig’s first two seasons however.

Playing the free safety role that tended to stay high in defensive alignments his first two seasons, the 25-year-old has since seen himself in the box playing close to the line of scrimmage or screaming downhill to defend the run or short/screen passes. And he’s proving to be a capable physical player. Moehrig arrived to the league with decent size — 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds — and we’re seeing the fruits of the Raiders’ labor.

Moehrig is second on the team in overall tackles with 92 (second in solo stops at 60). He also has five tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, a sack, two interceptions and 10 pass deflections on the year. He’s played and started in all 15 games thus far and rarely comes off the field playing 967 total defensive snaps (98.67 of Las Vegas’ defense total), putting together his most complete season of his career.

“Can’t speak highly enough,” Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce began when asked about Moehrig. “Fourth year, everything’s come together. It was weird because when the season started off Marcus Epps was still kind of controlling the room and doing stuff like that, and obviously we had the injury. But then Tre’von changed his body this offseason. I mean, he’s 210 pounds, stout, put him down in the box. I mean, he’s covering tight ends.

“He’s done a lot of positive things that don’t always show up on film, just from his communication, from being more vocal, from leading the room in that DB room and now being one of the older guys in that room because it’s a very young room. I mean, I think you got to be honest, he was a second-round draft pick of the Raiders, and we want to keep all these kinds of guys around. He wants to be here and he’s showing that he should be here.”

Developing into an all-around safety that’s helped ease the loss of his veteran tag team partner Marcus Epps, Moehrig picked the most opportune time to showcase he’s a do-it-all-type defender. His rookie contract expires this offseason and he’ll likely receive a handsome pay day — from the Raiders or another team.

Moehrig displays the read-and-react skills that fit both man and zone schemes and he’s trusting what he sees, using his speed to make plays, and not shy about mixing it up in the mud as a run defender or blitzer. While his takeaway production isn’t near the level it was during his collegiate days at TCU, he’s still a capable coverage defensive back who can get his mitts on the ball to deflect or intercept passes.

Las Vegas will have plenty of cap room this offseason — OverTheCap (OTC) projects the team to have about $108 million in room, only behind the New England Patriots’ open sum of $132 million — and it’ll be intriguing to see if general manager Tom Telesco deems Moehrig as a foundational building block or let’s him walk via free agency.

Unrestricted free agency will certainly draw the eye of Moehrig’s representation and any good agent may see what the open market dictates for their client.

OTC, for example, has a valuation of $5.478 million for Moehrig. That would put the safety in the top 15 of annual value per season amongst his position group. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Antoine Winfield Jr. has the highest average at $11.25 million with the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James ($9.646-plus million) and the Atlanta Falcons’ Jessie Bates III and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick behind the Bolts safety at $9 million.

If last offseason was any indication of the movement and coin safeties can expect this offseason, Moehrig may be in line to earn some serious pay.

Winfield inked his four-year, $84.1 million deal ($45 million guaranteed at signing) last offseason. As did Xavier McKinney who landed a four-year, $67 million deal ($23 million guaranteed at signing) with the Green Bay Packers. Ditto for Kyle Dugger who re-upped with the New England Patriots (four-year, $58 million deal, $29.75 milllion guaranteed at signing) and Budda Baker who re-signed with the Arizona Cardinals (three-year, $54 million, $17.44-plus million guaranteed at signing).

With how well Moehrig developed and now operates in the Raiders defense, he’s an integral piece and a glue-type in the secondary. Epps is coming off an ACL injury and is also slated to hit unrestricted free agency, but Moehrig has taken claim to the communicator/cerebral player role that the veteran provided. Las Vegas also has safety Isaiah Pola-Mao, who hits restricted free agency on an expiring deal this offseason (making it more likely he’ll be in Silver & Black in 2025), and youngsters Chris Smith II, Trey Taylor, and Thomas Harper.

While it’s tangible the Raiders could find Moehrig too rich for their blood, there isn’t a readymade player who can step up and fill the void the aforementioned would leave if he departs.

While he was brought into the organization by a former regime, Moehrig is the type of player that teams should hang on to as a homegrown prospect that’s developed into a foundational type. Especially for a team like the Raiders — not known for consistent draft success — keeping Moehrig in the fold and giving him the opportunity to continue as the leader in the secondary deviates from the hackneyed moribund draft flops.