Raiders rookie DT living the dream after inauspicious NFL start

The NFL path for Las Vegas Raiders practice squad player Tim Keenan III has been uneven, but he knows that one thing he can control is his technique.

The rookie defensive tackle came prepared with a dance when he brought down New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith for his first career sack. He proceeded to roll and shimmy his shoulders before throwing up his fraternity’s hand sign.

“It’s been fun,” Keenan said. “I’ve been out there playing, living my dream and everything.”

The Raiders announced on Saturday that the 6-foot-2-inch, 320-pound Keenan would be elevated for a third straight week to the game-day roster. If the team wants him to play after Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, he’ll need to be promoted to the 53-man roster.

The Los Angeles Rams’ seventh-round draft pick in April, Keenan didn’t make that roster out of training camp after Aaron Donald came out of retirement to rejoin the team. Once the Rams released Keenan from their practice squad, the Raiders signed him to theirs.

Asked how he handles the emotions of roster uncertainty, Keenan said he controls what he can and lets God control what he can’t. Then he recited Scripture.

Philippians 4:12: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.

“I’m content with the Lord,” Keenan explained. “If you get your strength from your circumstances, you’ll forever be on an emotional roller coaster.”

Keenan has experienced being on the fringes of a roster, back before he perfected that college sack dance. The Birmingham, Alabama, native redshirted at the University of Alabama and then barely got on the field the next season at a time when he was listed at 343 pounds.

But Keenan stuck it out, shed weight and eventually emerged as a force in his final three seasons at Alabama. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer before last season said Keenan was “spiritually leading our team.”

A lineman who spent free time speaking at local church services, Keenan wiped away tears and repeated, “thank you, Jesus” as he watched the Rams draft him 232nd overall. The moment his voice cracked while on the phone as the Rams told him he wouldn’t have to worry about undrafted free agency had already led his father to pump his fist and clap. He told reporters afterward that the Rams’ defensive front featured “a team of killers” — and that was before the team acquired Myles Garrett.

“It was definitely mind-opening being around Myles Garrett, being around Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske, and those guys,” Keenan said of his preseason experience. “Especially Poona Ford, he’s a technician of a nose (tackle). In my short time there, I still learned a lot and I still took in a lot of information.”

But as Donald unretired to join the group and chase another Super Bowl, Keenan, who grew modeling his game after the three-time NFL defensive player of the year, became a roster casualty.

“Good thing with me … I had to adapt because of a Hall of Famer,” he said of his own sacking. “So it’s a blessing in disguise being here. I’m just glad the Raiders, they took a chance on me, and I’m giving them all I got.”

Keenan’s eyes grew wide at the mention of just being in the same meeting room with Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby, who he had watched highlights of as a big fan.

Now the Raiders are relying upon Keenan as one of four rookies to get snaps on defense this season. Against the Jets, he not only recorded a sack, but also was active in scooping up the ball on an earlier play even though a replay would nullify the fumble recovery. Perhaps considered undersized in the NFL in terms of height and length, he has relied on his technique, work ethic and a winning energy that drew praise from coach Klint Kubiak.

“He’s stout,” defensive coordinator Rob Leonard said. “He’s a pro. I go back to all the traits you value of any good player being a leader. He’s out there early. He really embraces his role of what we’re asking him to do, and I really like him.”

In turn, the Raiders haven’t made him feel like a practice squad player, Keenan said. For his debut in which he made two tackles in the loss to the Rams, and his parents — Tim Jr., a teacher, and Stacey, a registered nurse — were able to make the trip from Alabama to Allegiant Stadium.

Tim Jr. was so excited that he started a livestream as they entered their seating section before the game. Multiple Rams fans there wore Donald jerseys. They wore Keenan’s Raiders jerseys.

“This is what you call a dream come true,” Tim Jr. told the viewers back home from his seat.

“All glory to God.”

Contact Diamond Leung at [email protected]. Follow @diamond83 on X.