What Raiders’ Jeff Heath is looking forward to with Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator
Las Vegas Raiders safety Jeff Heath is looking forward to meeting defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.
Heath gave a thumbs up when Bradley was named the new coordinator in early January.
It also helps that Heath knows a thing or two about Bradley’s scheme.
“Schematically, it’s very similar to the scheme that I played in Dallas for awhile and I played under (former Cowboys defensive backs) coach (Kris) Richard for a couple years,” Heath told Bill Lekas and Bill Polian on Sirius XM. “He coached with coach Bradley ... I’ve been in that tree of coaches for a while so I’m just really excited to get to work with him. I think he’s going to be really good for our defense. We’re a really young group and I’m excited for him to get his hand on us and see how we can develop this year.”
Heath said he’s been around “a lot of great coaches and great people that helped me out” and is relishing the opportunity in getting to know Bradley.
The Raiders’ defense was dreadful this past season after ranking low in almost every category.
There were also defensive lapses towards the end of games — the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins contests at Allegiant Stadium come to mind — as the Raiders finished the season 8-8.
“Ultimately at the end of the day it’s disappointing because we didn’t accomplish anywhere close to where we probably could or what we expected to accomplish,” Heath said. “We’re able to beat some good teams, but at the end of the day we just have to be way more consistent team. There is a number of excuses that you can make as to why we didn’t have success last year, but at the end of the day, they’re all excuses. Every team is dealing with issues.
“We just have to find a way to take that next step and I think we have the right pieces. We have the right leadership. It’s just a matter whether if we do or don’t. That is where we’re at at this point and not much else to say other than it’s going to be real evident what kind of team we want to be when we show back in this offseason.”
