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NFL Draft: Will Raiders address glaring linebacker need in Round 1?

Editor’s note: For our complete NFL Draft coverage, go to http://www.mercurynews.com/tag/nfl-draft/

Look at the Raiders’ depth chart at inside linebacker. Wait, no, maybe don’t. It’s not pretty.

The need is obvious and glaring and that’s a reason why so many mock drafts have connected the Raiders to some of the top inside linebackers out there.

But look at how Reggie McKenzie and Jack Del Rio have addressed the position in the past? They went out and brought in Malcolm Smith two years ago, plucking a role player from Seattle in hopes he’d flourish as a full-time starter with his old position coach, Raiders’ defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr.