New regimes like their own guys and tend to have little attachment to the players from the previous regimes. But even knowing that, it’s a bit unusual for every one of a team’s draft class to make their initial 53-man roster.
Not only did that happen with the Raiders, but they also added four undrafted rookies as well — LB Darien Butler, LB Luke Masterson, CB Sam Webb, and S Isaiah Pola-Mao.
Having four undrafted guys make the roster is a fact of which head coach Josh McDaniels is quite proud.
“They’ve had their opportunities, they’ve improved, they work really hard, and it’s important to them,” McDaniels said of his undrafted rookies. “We’ve got a lot of players who were vying for a lot of spots obviously. And those four guys came here and really just put their heads down and continued to get better and make progress and they’ve all shown the ability to help us compete on fourth down and in the kicking game. There’s a lot of reasons you try to put together a roster that’s diverse and those types of things, but those guys have all earned the opportunity that they have in front of them and they’re going to continue to have to earn it.”
Sam Webb in particular went undrafted out of Missouri Western and played extremely well in the preseason finale against the Patriots.
Webb’s emergence was at least partially responsible for the team trading Trayvon Mullen to the Cardinals.
“We’re going to do what we think is best for the team at this point in time and we’ve had some guys who’ve shown up at that position and really done some good things; Sam [Webb] is one of them. So, hard choices sometimes, based on total numbers and what you’re going to keep at a certain spot. Just thought it gave us an opportunity to add something. He’ll have a fresh start in Arizona and I wish him the best of luck.”
Webb has even taken Mullen’s number 27, switching from the temporary number 48 he wore in camp and preseason.
For each rookie who makes the roster, there is another player who is cut to make room for them. Often players who were previously established.
Here are the ten Raiders rookies who made the squad and the player who was cut to make room for them;
C/G Dylan Parham (D-3) — G Alex Bars
RB Zamir White (D-4) — RB Trey Ragas
DT Neil Farrell Jr (D-4) — DT Kyle Peko
DT Matthew Butler (D-5) — DT Vernon Butler
T Thayer Munford (D-7) — T Alex Leatherwood
RB Brittain Brown (D-7) — RB Kenyan Drake
LB Darien Butler (UDFA) — LB Micah Kiser (IR)
LB Luke Masterson (UDFA) — LB Kenny Young
CB Sam Webb (UDFA) — CB Trayvon Mullen (traded to Cardinals)
S Isaiah Pola-Mao (UDFA) — S Tyree Gillespie (traded to Titans)
A few other nice stories of players earning a spot on this roster out of camp include WR DJ Turner, TE Jesper Horsted, T Jackson Barton, and DE Tashawn Bower.