Gutierrez: Elandon Roberts' quiet fire drives the Raiders' veteran linebacker corps

Oct 03, 2025 at 09:40 AM

Paul Gutierrez

Raiders Columnist

First things first, Part I: Just two people are allowed to call Raiders middle linebacker Elandon Roberts by his first name.

"Only my momma and my wife call me Elandon," he said. "Everybody else calls me E-Rob."

First things first, Part II: Never, under any circumstance, refer to the Raiders' reimagined linebacker room with four wily vets as being "thrown together" this offseason.

It has a negative connotation to Roberts, er, E-Rob, and he said he "hates" the phrase, even as the accomplished foursome is in its combined 33rd year in the NFL, but whose members are all also playing on one-year deals for Las Vegas.

"We've been playing this game for a long time at a high level so when people say we're thrown together, I'm just like, that's crazy to me," he said. "Devin [White] is a Super Bowl champion. I'm a Super Bowl champion. [Germaine] Pratt's been to the Super Bowl. Jamal [Adams] is an All-Pro that's played at a very high level. I just think that's something easy for people to say at this point."

Something else that's easy to say - the 31-year-old E-Rob is the leader, both spiritually and physically, of said linebacker group as the Green Dot, and the linebackers are the pulse of the defense.

No matter what you call him.

In fact, E-Rob has long had a fan in Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, even if their paths had never crossed until this season.

"This is our first year together, but I've always noticed him before," Graham said. "He came after me to New England. He came after me to Miami. Then he was at Pittsburgh.

"I knew a lot about him because of one particular play he had his rookie year. I tell him all the time. I show it every year. It's an amazing play. It's a [39]-yard gain, but it's an amazing play by him as a rookie. So, I remember watching that play and saying that was the [play] of the Super Bowl against Atlanta."

Yes, you know E-Rob and the Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Falcons. And no doubt, you remember Julian Edelman's miraculous scoop catch. But none of it matters if not for a low-key high-hustle play by E-Rob in the fourth quarter.

With the Falcons clinging to a 28-20 lead and on their own 10-yard line with less than 6 minutes remaining in regulation, Matt Ryan hit running back Devonta Freeman in stride and Freeman was gone…until he wasn't.

E-Rob, on the opposite hashmark and on NRG Stadium's artificial turf after being pushed down, got up, took chase and somehow caught Freeman to take him down at midfield. Without the successful pursuit, Freeman likely scores and the Falcons win Super Bowl LI.

"Play of the game," Graham said. "Play of the game."

Graham, though, was not as excited about another E-Rob highlight.

"Yeah, against me," Graham rued, recalling when he was the Dolphins DC in 2019. "I know. There's a story behind that one. It was alright. Hey, we won the game."

E-Rob has one catch in his career. Playing emergency fullback for the Patriots in 2019, he had a 39-yard catch-and-run touchdown from…Tom Brady. The 540th TD pass of Brady's career, his second-to-last regular season TD pass for New England.

And yet…

Replays of the score show an innate athleticism needed by the middle linebacker/fullback to haul in an off-target throw from Brady.

"Sometimes," E-Rob said with a sly grin, "you've got to make the GOAT look good."

Which brings us back to E-Rob's current career station - keeping the Raiders linebackers on point while stifling opposing teams' run games.

Through four weeks, the Raiders have the No. 13-ranked rush defense at 102.8 rushing yards allowed per game, and that includes the one-off game at Washington in which the Commanders went off for 201 yards on the ground.

E-Rob shrugged.

"You'd rather have issues early in the season," he said, "than later."

Plus, the Raiders' 28 tackles for loss are tied for the second most in the league.

E-Rob, meanwhile, has 13 tackles, eight solo, with a tackle for a loss, despite missing three quarters in the season-opening win at New England with an elbow injury.

And yet…he leads all linebackers this season with a 12.0% run stuff rate, stuffing six runs on 50 snaps against the run and has also recorded a run stop on nine of those 50 snaps for an 18.0% run stop rate, ranking No. 2 among linebackers with a minimum 25 run snaps.

Up next - the NFL's leading rusher in the Colts' Jonathan Taylor, who has run for 414 yards and three TDs. Yeah, the names may change for E-Rob, in his 10th NFL season, but the scenarios remain the same.

"It's been cool," he said. "Everybody knows their roles. Being a veteran room, you understand the league. … You've got to be on the same page.

"Being a linebacker in the middle of the defense, you're the hub. You make everything go."

And that's First Things First, Part III.