What Type of Contract Will Raiders' Malcolm Koonce Land?

Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Malcolm Koonce will be one of the NFL's most interesting free agents this offseason.

Aug 13, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance (5) is pressured by Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce (51) in the first half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders will have some pivotal decisions to make during the NFL offseason, and some of those decisions will consist of what to do with their own free agents.

The Raiders are definitely looking to make improvements in the coming months, but they also have to worry about retaining their own players to avoid a tit-for-tat scenario of simply replacing one good player with another.

Las Vegas is loaded with cap room, but that money tends to dry up quick once you start signing players, and you also have to leave room for draft picks, as well.

Perhaps the most intriguing Raiders free agent on the board is edge rusher Malcolm Koonce, who missed all of 2024 due to a torn ACL but will be ready for next season.

Koonce displayed considerable promise in 2023, racking up 43 tackles, eight sacks and three forced fumbles. He also registered an 81.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.

There is no doubt that the 26-year-old seemed primed to ascend into the top pass rushers in football, but the knee injury definitely threw a bit of a damper on everything.

That begs the question: what type of contract with Koonce land on the open market? And is it worth it for Las Vegas to re-sign him? Or should the Raiders pursue someone like, say, Josh Sweat?

Well, the benefit to rolling with Koonce is that they can probably nab him on a team-friendly deal. At least relatively speaking.

Rival clubs are not going to be falling over themselves to hand a lucrative long-term contract to a player who just missed an entire season as a result of a serious injury, and if we are being honest, Koonce has nothing on his resume outside of 2023.

This could allow the Raiders to retain Koonce on a fairly short-term deal, and they might be able to get away with not including a hefty sum of guaranteed money in the contract by compensating with incentives.

It would be the smart thing to do considering Koonce is still somewhat unproven, and no one knows for sure how he will bounce back from the injury.

That is, of course, unless Las Vegas wants to go in a different direction entirely, which is possible.

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