Category: NFL Free Agency

Raiders re-sign rookie camp standout WR to practice squad

Raiders re-sign rookie camp standout to practice squad

Come the 53-man roster cutdown last month, Ramel Keyton was inside the bubble. A standout training camp and preseason earned the undrafted rookie a roster spot. But as often happens, other moves had to be made and Keyton ultimately lost a numbers game.

Keyton was waived Saturday before the Raiders Week 4 matchup with the Browns. He cleared waivers and today they re-signed him to the practice squad.

The former Tennessee wide receiver was opening some eyes in camp for the Raiders. And he made his first headlines with his standout performance in the team’s camp scrimmage.

Come their final preseason game, Keyton put his skills on display for the rest of the league, when he led the team with four catches for 76 yards. With the rest of the NFL taking notice, they felt they needed to hold onto him rather than risk another team scooping him up.

Bringing him back Monday allows them to continue to try and develop him.

Raiders make several roster moves ahead of Week 4 matchup with Browns

Raiders did some work to add depth to the roster when they face the Browns Sunday.

Due to a string of injuries at various positions for the Raiders, they shuffled around some players ahead of their game against the Browns on Sunday.

First, they signed John Samuel Shenker from the practice squad. Shenker spent the past two offseasons with the Raiders. His addition was to add depth with Michael Mayer not playing due to personal reasons.

In a corresponding move, the Raiders waived wide receiver Ramel Keyton who impressed in camp and preseason as an undrafted rookie out of Tennessee.

Since they still need depth at receiver due to Davante Adams not playing, they activated Alex Bachman from the practice squad. Bachman had been added to the offseason roster late in training camp.

Also getting a call up from the practice squad was DE K’Lavon Chaisson. He was signed to the practice squad a couple weeks ago in light of the season-ending injury to Malcolm Koonce. Now with Maxx Crosby expected to miss Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, the former first rounder gets the call up.

Former Raiders CB Tyler Hall signs with Seahawks

Former Raiders CB Tyler Hall signs with Seahawks

The last time Tyler Hall took the field as an NFL player he was wearing Silver & Black. That was Week 16 of last season. Now heading into Week four of this season, Hall has found a new home. He is signing with the Seahawks according to his agent ISA Management.

Hall spent his first two NFL seasons with the Falcons and Rams, getting a Super Bowl ring in his second NFL season.

He joined the Raiders the following offseason and spent two seasons in Las Vegas, appearing in 18 games and starting six. In that time he put up four pass breakups and 40 tackles and a sack.

He wasn’t brought back this offseason and signed with the Philadelphia Eagles only to get injured in camp and was waived.

Now healthy again, the fifth year pro has joined the Seahawks hoping to revive and continue his NFL career. Hall will turn 26 on Halloween.

Raiders sign CB Sam Webb to active roster off practice squad

Raiders sign CB Sam Webb to active roster off practice squad

After three weeks of practice squad elevations, the Raiders are making it official today. They are signing practice squad CB Sam Webb to the active roster according to a league source.

This is Webb’s third year with the Raiders. He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri Western in 2022 and made the roster out of camp. He saw action in 17 games as a rookie, starting three.

Since then he’s spent most of his time on the practice squad, but, as with this season, gets activated on game days. He is considered valuable depth at cornerback and on special teams, so they keep him around.

They have needed him the first few weeks due to Brandon Facyson being on injured reserve and rookie DeCamerion Richardson being out with injury each week.

With Webb’s signing, the team will have to make a roster move. That could be a release of player sent to injured reserve. We will wait and see what that transaction will be.

Ravens agree to a 2-year, $6 million contract extension with RB Justice Hill

Ian Rapoport reports that the Ravens and RB Justice Hill have agreed to terms on a 2-year, $6M contract extension

Justice Hill was set to become a free agent this off-season, but he’ll be around for the long haul after earning a contract extension.

Ian Rapoport reports that Baltimore has agreed to terms on a 2-year, $6 million deal for the reliable dual-threat running back.

Selected by the Ravens in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft, Hill has 208 career rushing attempts, 959 career rushing yards (4.6 avg), five touchdowns, and 61 catches for 416 yards and one score.

Hill gives Lamar Jackson another reliable threat behind Derrick Henry, with Keaton Mitchell still recovering from a torn ACL.

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Ravens to sign DT Chris Wormley to the practice squad

The Ravens are signing veteran Chris Wormley to their practice squad after working him out today

After working him out today, Mike Garafalo reported that the Ravens are signing veteran defensive lineman Chris Wormley to their practice squad.

https://Twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1835790590589440121

Wormley spent time with the Panthers last season, seeing action in five games and playing 16 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.

The Michigan product logged a seven-sack season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021 but suffered a torn ACL in 2022.

Wormley, a third-round pick in 2017, returns to the franchise that drafted him.

Raiders sign former 1st round EDGE to replace injured former 1st round EDGE

How do you replace a former top pick edge rusher? Why, with another former top pick edge rusher, of course.

Last Thursday, the Raiders lost starting edge rusher Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury. Six snaps into the game on Sunday, they lost former seventh overall pick Tyree Wilson to a knee injury. Thus leaving the position not only weaker, but lacking depth.

The Koonce injury was a huge blow. But they were hoping for the depth to step up and lessen that blow until Koonce could return. The Wilson injury meant something needed to happen.

“It got thin real quick,” Pierce said of the defensive end depth. “Telesco’s working on that as we speak.”

Well, Telesco’s work has yielded a result as the Raiders have signed former first round pick (20th overall) K’Lavon Chaissan to their practice squad.

Chaisson was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of LSU.

Over four season in Jacksonville, he had just five career sacks. They didn’t pick up his fifth year option and he left as a free agent. He signed with the Panthers this offseason and was released last week, ahead of the season opener.

Along with the Chaisson addition, the Raiders have also added CB Kyu Blu Kelly to the practice squad. Kelly was a 5th round pick by the Ravens in the 2023 draft out of Stanford. He didn’t make the roster out of camp and spent time on three different teams last season — the Packers, Seahawks, and Commanders.

Raiders teammates liking ‘aura’ of Gardner Minshew, ‘he’s running the show’

Gardner Minshew has that ‘aura’ according to Raiders teammates, ‘he’s running the show’

It’s been a couple weeks since Gardner Minshew was officially named the Raiders starting quarterback, ending a months long competition between he and 2023 starter Aidan O’Connell.

Minshew outplayed O’Connell, if only slightly, as camp and preseason went along. But it was more than that. Head coach Antonio Pierce mentioned at the time that Minshew’s personality played a role in his decision.

His personality is infectious, his energy is infectious, his leadership is infectious,” Pierce said of Minshew.

While Minshew has never been the type of QB to wow anyone with his arm on the field, his personality has made him a favorite by his teammates. That’s not just his spirited, happy-go-lucky demeanor, but also his work ethic.

Those were clearly top priorities by the team this year as evidenced by the fact that the top two free agents they signed were Minshew and DT Christian Wilkins.

“What’s that word the kids say now? Aura? Yeah, Gardner’s definitely got some aura,” Wilkins said. “I love that dude. He’s a lot of fun to be around. Me and him go way back to college and we were drafted in the same year. So, I definitely got a lot of respect for Gardner. He’s definitely got an infectious personality and all that good stuff. He’s always coming in every day with a smile, great energy, and is always ready to work, so that’s definitely something that we can all get behind as a team and that we all see.”

For Minshew, his approach to preparation has always been the same. It’s simply about loving and appreciating being around his teammates and preparing to play.

“I’ve always really enjoyed the process of it,” said Minshew. “If you only like the games, that’s like 1% of the time you’re doing this and the rest of the time you’re miserable, that doesn’t really make sense to me. So, I always just try to enjoy every second in the building. The locker room, the team atmosphere is something that’s just so special and something you never want to take for granted.”

The past couple weeks, that process has changed for Minshew. He went from competing for the job and taking only part of the first team snaps, to taking control as the starter. And all that comes with that.

“Your role changes and being the starter, being a little more vocal, talking a little bit, getting everybody on the same page because that’s your role,” said Minshew. “I think that’s the biggest change.”

This is Minshew’s sixth season in the NFL. He has 37 starts under his belt, including the final 12 games of last season as the starter in Indianapolis. So, he has some experience battling for his job as well as experience taking over the reins of an NFL team. While Pierce noticed the change in Minshew from who he was when he was competing for the job to the more vocal leader he has been since taking on the starting job.

“I think when you’re battling in the quarterback position, you’ve got two guys there that were splitting time of who’s talking, who’s leading the pack,” Pierce said. “This is Gardner’s show. He’s running the show.”

Raiders have considerable salary cap room heading into 2024 season

With the season around the corner, the Raiders are still sitting on a lot of unspent cap space.

All the expectations/hopes the Raiders would add a big ticket free agent ahead of training camp never came to pass. They had plenty of money with which to do it. And they still have plenty of money. But whether they spend it, or if there’s even any player worth spending it on is the question.

Currently they have some $28.8 million in cap room burning a hole in their pocket according to overthecap.com

They could save it for a rainy day. For instance if they have an injury and there happens to be a moderately pricy free agent out there they could add.

Or take on a player with a large contract in a trade.

Or they could give an extension to one of their own players.

That last one seems the most likely. And perhaps the smartest as well.

There are two players who would be worth holding that money to give an extension — Nate Hobbs and Malcolm Koonce. As both players are in the final season of their rookie contracts and are worthy of getting a big money deal to stick around.

There are several other players who could be deserving of an extension and who wouldn’t be nearly as pricey as Hobbs and Koonce.

Either way, it’s a bit strange to have the amount of money the Raiders have. Only four teams have more cap money available. Meanwhile, ten teams have less than five million and 18 teams have less than ten million.

Former Raiders QB Nathan Peterman joins 3rd NFL team in a month

Former Raiders QB Nathan Peterman joins 3rd NFL team in a month

You’ll rarely see another player with less success in the NFL get signed more times to more teams than Nathan Peterman. Today he signed with the Atlanta Falcons practice squad, making for his third NFL team in a month.

A month ago, Peterman was part of the New Orleans Saints. He was released early in training camp and a little over a week later, he signed with the Raiders. Two weeks later, he was released with the roster cuts to get from 90 to 53 players and the team opted for Carter Bradley to join the practice squad, leaving Peterman unsigned.

Peterman joins his sixth NFL club entering his eighth season, meaning he now has been part of more NFL teams than he has NFL starts (5) or NFL touchdown passes (4). But still less than half of his career interceptions (13).

He’s just one of those guys who hangs around. His longest stint with any team was the four years he spent with the Raiders from 2018-21 and in that time he had zero starts and a grand total of five pass attempts with no touchdowns. He had one touchdown pass with the Bears in 2022, and before that is last TD was was 2018.

Talk about a dream job.