Former Raiders DE Arden Key On Leaving Las Vegas: 'I Wanted To Get Out Of There'

Former Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Arden Key was shown the door this offseason, even though he played in 37 games with 10 starts in his rookie season.

The former third-round pick spoke out Sunday about the situation with the Raiders, whom he said he was anxious to get away from.

“I wasn’t totally surprised, to be honest,” Key said.

“I wanted to get out of there. I’d been wanting to get out of there. So I wasn’t surprised. I was more happy than surprised. I wish it happened a little earlier, but hey, I got what I wanted. So, I’m good.”

Key inked a deal with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason to assist in their pass rush, and reports say he's having a good camp thus far.

The former LSU star had some issues in his last college year, which caused him to fall all the way to the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

His draft stock dropped after he had a tough season with the Tigers, and his first season in the NFL, he had just one sack. He had just two the year after that before being shutout of sacks in 2020.

“It was just bad all around for me,” Key said. “Bad system. It just wasn’t the right fit for me and I had to get out.”

Now in a new system and more importantly a new franchise, Key is hoping to get his career back on track. In his career, Key has 49 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and 26 QB hits.