HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders have had quite the busy couple days for themselves.
On Sunday, the team unveiled their initial 53-man roster, locking in their decisions on who will be with the team during Week One against the Miami Dolphins.
However, deciding on the initial roster was not the end of the work for general manager John Spytek or the Raiders’ front office; in fact, it was only the beginning.
“We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of work to do with a young roster,” noted Spytek during his press conference on Tuesday at Intermountain Health Performance Center.
Holding first priority on the waiver wire and having the ability to target any player they wanted, the Raiders elected to use that advantage to snag cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. from the San Francisco 49ers. Luter, who recorded two pass deflections in the preseason finale against the Raiders, reportedly had claims from other teams, so landing him is a huge get for the Silver and Black.
In a corresponding roster move, the Raiders decided to waive cornerback Decamerion Richardson, who was claimed by the New Orleans Saints on waivers.
“Darrell’s a good football player,” said Raiders assistant general manager Brian Stark. “He’s played quality regular season snaps. He’s a good special teams player, and we just saw the opportunity to add a player that’s got a little bit of experience to him in that room, because we’ve got a competitive room but we got some young players in there.”
Despite that, however, the Raiders did get some good luck on the waiver wire in terms of Richardson being the only player from Las Vegas that was claimed.
As a result, the team was free to scoop up players who impressed during training camp and the preseason and stash them on the practice squad. Some notables among the 16 initial signings were standout UDFA edge rusher Cian Slone, seventh-round rookie defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland and one of Fernando Mendoza’s former teammates in running back Roman Hemby.
The Raiders would later add wide receiver Cody White to the practice squad. White, who was picked up from the Seattle Seahawks, has familiarity in head coach Klint Kubiak’s offense and gives the Raiders another option to return kickoffs.
Later on, the Raiders would place receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. on injured reserve, which was unsurprising after the second-year receiver missed the majority of training camp due to an undisclosed injury.
With the open roster spot, the Raiders brought back linebacker Segun Olubi, rectifying one of the more head-scratching moves from the reveal of the initial roster. Olubi was expected to have a presence on special teams and give the Raiders some added depth in the linebacker corps, so it was a surprise not seeing him there. However, teams have released players only to bring them back after making the necessary roster moves, so perhaps this was a case of the plan being to always keep Olubi while keeping things within the rules.
However, another interesting development was in regard to Ashton Jeanty, as the running back was on the active roster and not on injured reserve.
During Tuesday’s practice, Jeanty did not participate in team drills, so his availability for Week One is still up in the air. However, not placing him on injured reserve is a tremendous sign for his rehabilitation from the ankle injury he suffered late into training camp, and getting him back onto the field sooner rather than later would be a victory for the Raiders.
“I think he’s in a good spot,” said Spytek about Jeanty. “We seen him every day. He’s working really hard. He’s on the mend, as Klint said.
I expect him to be back as quick as he can, maybe quicker than some people would expect. When that is, we’ll see, but I think he’s in a good spot and I think he’ll be ready to go when we get him back out there.”
Even with a couple weeks to go before Week One comes about, the work of Spytek, Stark and the Raiders front office is far from over, and how the roster shakes out throughout the course of the next few months will be something worth noticing.