4. QB Marcus Mariota

And finally, the player who might be hurt the most from the limited preseason is backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. Without a doubt, Mariota’s all is to eventually unseat Derek Carr to become the team’s starter. But that is going to become much more difficult to accomplish without the extra two games.

Typically, Gruden likes to play the backup quarterbacks for at least a half in every game, if not more. And for someone like Mariota, he needs all the live reps he can get as he tries to learn this new, complex offense.

Expect Mariota to still play a significant amount of snaps in the preseason, but losing two games could impact him the most as he tries to turn his career around with the Raiders.

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