Rolando McClain

During a week 4 game against Denver, McClain played in 73 snaps, but following the bye, the Raiders made the decision to replace him with 4th round rookie Miles Burris in their nickel package, resulting in McClain playing only 17 snaps compared to Burris' 55 in the week 6 game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Head coach Dennis Allen said he has been impressed with Burris' ability to make corrections on the fly, and that the linebacker was not a "repeat offender" when it came to mistakes and a smart football player overall, indicating the coaching staff's belief that McClain was guilty of poor decision-making and too many errors.

According to sources within the Raiders, it was reported by NFL.com's Albert Breer and Ian Rapoport that McClain had been kicked out of an official team practice session on November 29 due to an "incident".

McClain then took to social media outlet Facebook and released a series of comments stating that he was ". . .no longer an Oakland Raider!!"

and that he was ". . .mentally done."

with the team, wishing ". . .to be anywhere besides here".

He appeared in 11 games (9 starts), registering 90 tackles, one sack, 3 passes defensed and one forced fumble.

Rolando Marquise McClain (born July 14, 1989) is a former American football linebacker.

He was the highest drafted Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker since Keith McCants went fourth overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1990 NFL Draft.

He is the first Alabama linebacker to win the Lambert Award since its inception in 1991.

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, McClain was listed as the No. 2 inside linebacker in the nation in 2007.

He chose Alabama over offers from Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Louisville.

McClain accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Alabama, where he played for coach Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide football team from 2007 to 2009.

As a true freshman in 2007, McClain started 8 of 13 games, finishing the season with 75 tackles, two interceptions, and a sack.

He was recognized as a Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Freshman selection.

As a sophomore in 2008, McClain compiled 95 tackles, three sacks, and an interception, earning Associated Press (AP) third-team All-American honors, and was a first-team All-SEC selection.

He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2009 and winning the 2010 BCS National Championship.

During his junior year in 2009, McClain had 105 tackles including 14.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, fourteen quarterback hurries, two interceptions, three passes broken up, and a forced fumble.

He was named Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Kentucky in early October.

Following the SEC Championship Game, Rolando was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and a first-team All-SEC selection.

On December 7, 2009, McClain was announced as the winner of the 2009 Lambert Award for the best collegiate linebacker.

A day later, he was also awarded the 2009 Dick Butkus Award, being only the second Crimson Tide player to do so (along with Derrick Thomas in 1988).

He was recognized a unanimous first-team All-American, after being named to the first teams of the American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News, and Walter Camp Football Foundation.

He was selected eighth overall by the Oakland Raiders in 2010 NFL Draft, and has also played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys.

McClain attended Decatur High School in Decatur, Alabama, where he played linebacker and tight end for the Decatur Red Raiders high school football team.

As a junior, he made 104 tackles, 11 for loss, four sacks, an interception, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery to go along with his 24 receptions for 436 yards on the offensive side of the ball.

McClain's senior season ended with 106 tackles and 13 for loss, which led to Parade All-American honors, and selection to play in the first Offense-Defense All-American Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

During his high school years, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, although later tests seemed to indicate that was a misdiagnosis.

On January 11, 2010, a few days after winning the BCS National Championship, McClain decided to forgo his senior year at Alabama and enter the 2010 NFL Draft.

McClain was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

McClain signed his contract with the Oakland Raiders on July 28, 2010, in time to make the first day of training camp.

The contract was estimated to be for $40 million over 5 years.

McClain finished his first season with 85 tackles (second on the team), 0.5 sacks, one interception, and 6 passes defended.

In week 2 of the 2010 season against the St. Louis Rams, McClain body slammed Danny Amendola, which drew an "unnecessary roughness" call and eventually a $5,000 fine by the NFL.

He recorded his first career sack in week 7 against Kyle Orton of the Denver Broncos and his first career interception in week 12 against Chad Henne of the Miami Dolphins.

In 2011, he appeared in 15 games (14 starts), posting 99 tackles (second on the team), 77 solo tackles, 5 sacks, 14 passes defended, and one safety.

During the 2012 NFL season, in which the Raiders' defense struggled and was statistically the worst defense in the league, McClain saw his playing time decrease following a 37–6 rout by the division rival Denver Broncos.

After various off-the-field incidents, however, he was waived by the Raiders on April 5, 2013.

McClain had been drafted with the hopes that he could help improve the Raiders' run defense, an area where the team had been consistently among the worst in the league.

Following a string of poor first round picks by late owner/GM Al Davis, the selection of McClain was applauded by many analysts.