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Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden have to cut the Raiders roster from 80 to 53 players by Saturday, and anytime you’re shedding nearly 34% of your personnel there are bound to be a few surprises.
That’s especially true this year, as the cancelation of preseason games will force coaches around the league to make roster decisions based on practice performance, not game tape. For end-of-the-roster players who are fighting for their NFL lives, that preseason game tape is precious, and this year it just doesn’t exist.
Reading between the lines with Gruden is usually not difficult — you know when he loves a player, and you know when he loves a player. But he has been decidedly tight-lipped throughout the summer, admitting that he doesn’t want to give other teams any insight into the Las Vegas roster. That only makes it more difficult for an outsider to predict how things will go on cut-down day.
There have already been a few noteworthy moves this week involving veterans on both sides of the ball. On Monday the team released cornerback Prince Amukamara, who had signed with the team in the offseason; on Tuesday, the Raiders followed that up by releasing backup interior lineman Jordan Devey and placing receiver Tyrell Williams on IR. Later on Tuesday, Las Vegas traded backup tackle David Sharpe to Washington in exchange for a late-round draft pick.
The Williams move was not so surprising, as his torn labrum was always going to be difficult to manage without surgery. And cutting Amukamara likely signals that Mayock and Gruden are comfortable with the development of the young players in the secondary, much the way the Sharpe trade probably indicates the team is favoring third-year blocker Brandon Parker for the swing tackle role.
And the week has just begun.
Without putting forth a full 53-man projection just yet, let’s take a look at some other potential roster moves we could see this week:
Kyle Emanuel and Kyle Wilber
The Raiders just traded for a linebacker to be their thumper in the ground game, as newly acquired Raekwon McMillan has graded out as a top-flight run defender through his first two years in the league. And with the league trending hard toward nickel defenses and playing in space, the team probably doesn’t need more than one big linebacker.
That puts Kyle Emanuel (6-foot-3, 250 pounds) and Kyle Wilber (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) in a precarious spot. Wilber is a core special teams player and that might be his ticket to a roster spot, but the numbers just don’t seem to add up for the Kyles.
Javin White
On the flip side, undrafted rookie Javin White still looks to be in good position to claim a roster spot. At 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, he’s a pure pass-coverage linebacker at this point in his career, and he has performed exceptionally throughout training camp. A couple strong preseason games could have clinched his spot, but the UNLV product was out of luck there.
The best sign for White is the fact that Gruden has talked him up. Gruden has been very secretive with his player evaluations because he knows he might have to get some of them through waivers and onto the practice squad; therefore, he doesn’t want to tip off opposing teams and give them a chance to steal any of the Raiders' promising prospects. Gruden has shown no such fear when it comes to White, openly praising him and allowing other coaches and players to do the same. That might indicate that Gruden is not worried about losing White because he’s not going to the practice squad — he’s staying with the big club.
Derek Carrier
Gruden loves to play with multiple tight ends, but Carrier might get caught in a numbers crunch. Darren Waller is the star, second-year Foster Moreau is the up-and-comer, and veteran Jason Witten was brought in to shore up the group. That puts Carrier squarely on the fringe of the roster, and with the team likely to use a roster spot on fullback Alec Ingold, it’s hard to see the team also carrying four tight ends.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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