The Oakland Raiders used their third-round, 66th overall selection on outside linebacker, Sio Moore. To say that Moore is a player with a chip on his shoulder would be an understatement — check out this quote:

“The thing with me is I was a guy that was overlooked and you know, I had to work my tail off each and every way in everything that I have to this day,” said Moore to reporters. “Everything I do, I do with juice. I was glad [the Raiders] picked me up because I know that was the right fit. They know me and they didn’t need to do the interview process and all those things. Like I said from the beginning of this whole draft process, there’s going to be one team that’s going to fall in love and make the right pick and there’s going to be 31 other teams that are going to be pissed off. The Oakland Raiders got the best linebacker in the draft, I don’t care who went before.”

From a fan’s perspective, you’ve got to enjoy reading that.

Moore has been a key contributor for the University of Connecticut defense for the past three season, amassing 268 tackles, with 43 of those being tackles for a loss from 2010-2012. He also exhibited progression in his pass coverage, tallying three interceptions and 17 pass break-ups in his final two years.

Strengths: Great tackler, as you can tell by his numbers. He wraps up incredibly well and won’t allow many broken tackles. He ran a 4.65 40-yard dash time, which is relatively good for a linebacker. He shows good ability in covering tight ends and bigger receivers. In tape, he shows good zone coverage ability, contesting balls in the air.

Once more, he fits almost perfectly into Oakland’s 4-3 scheme. He maintains an aggressive pass rush with the ability to dip under tackles.The Raiders are in dire need for a good pass rusher at the DE position, and his ability to play in coverage and switch to DE effectively shouldn’t be underrated.

Weaknesses: Tape reveals that Moore can get beat by quicker players pretty easily. He can often get confused in coverage by misdirection and play-action type plays. That doesn’t bode well for when he’s facing spread-option style attacks. On occasion, Moore would get overpowered by bigger offensive lineman — he would get stood up and struggle to release from the block, and has average closing speed.

What I like most about Moore is his confidence in his abilities, and that mentality should transfer well to the Raiders locker room. With the front office preaching taking on players with leadership qualities, a player with such a huge chip on his shoulder like Moore might just be the type of player head coach Dennis Allen and GM Reggie McKenzie were searching for.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonCX525