Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane is doing what only 10 other undrafted players have

The Las Vegas Raiders signed former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Robert Spillane last year, and no one really blinked an eye. Then he played in the silver and black and embodied what it means to be a Raider. He fit in perfectly, and of course, the plays he was making, like the interceptions he had, certainly helped as well.

Spillane played through a shattered hand and made plays with his club on. Why? Because that's what Raiders do, and he's carried over his great play into the 2024 season as well, as he had another interception, this time on Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, a guy he's played a ton.

Spillane is one of the leaders of the defense, if not the leader as the green dot, and he's done what he's done as a guy who's been counted out all of his life. In fact, not many other undrafted linebackers have been better than Spillane has through his first 71 career games. The Raiders PR team shared a stat about Spillane.

Linebacker Robert Spillane has now reached 330 career tackles, the 11th most tackles by an undrafted player in their first 71 career games (since 2000).

After doing some research and math, I found out that his head coach, Antonio Pierce, who was also an undrafted free-agent linebacker, barely missed that cut, as he had 323 tackles in his first 71 games, making their careers very similar. And, that's a big reason that Spillane loves Pierce so much as his coach, because they've been through similar stuff, and because Pierce won a Super Bowl, which is what every player wants to do.

Spillane, though, is maybe the second most important player on the defense behind, of course, Maxx Crosby. And, he's doing it all as an undrafted guy. He just continues to prove 32 teams wrong every week. He's already done it against the Los Angeles Chargers and Ravens this year alone, and I'm sure he will have some big time plays against the Carolina Panthers, too.

Related: Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby took everything personally leading up to win vs. Baltimore