Raiders free agency – Syndication Server

Raiders get help at wide receiver, signing former Panthers 2nd rounder

Some help has arrived with the Raiders signing former Panthers second rounder receiver Terrace Marshall to the practice squad.

This week, the Raiders are taking some drastic action at several position in their attempts to find some production on the offensive side of the ball.

Tuesday along with adding former Falcons starting QB Desmond Ridder off the Cardinals practice squad, they signed wide receiver Terrace Marshall to the practice squad.

Marshall was a round two pick by the Panthers in the 2021 draft out of LSU. He played three seasons in Carolina, appearing in 36 games with 16 starts.

The 6-2, 200-pounder has 64 career catches for 767 yards and one touchdown. His best season was in 2022 when he caught 28 passes for 490 yards (17.5 yards per catch) and a touchdown.

But after a down year, he was released in the final roster cuts last August. He caught on with the 49ers on their practice squad but was released again last week.

It wouldn’t take much for him to be worthy of a shot with the Raiders who have been struggling to field an even serviceable wide receiver corps since Davante Adams’ trade request and Jakobi Meyers’ ankle injury.

Salary cap impact for Raiders from Davante Adams trade

What kind of money is freed up for the Raiders this season and beyond after the trade that sent Davante Adams to the Jets.

Davante Adams is gone. And with him goes his salary for the remainder of this season and beyond. Just how does Adams’s departure affect the Raiders money against the cap? Glad you asked.

First let’s look at this season’s cap.

For the final 11 games this season, the Raiders save $11.6 million.

Had Adams been traded away the week he requested it, the number would have been closer to $13.8 million, but they paid him around $1.1 million for the last two weeks, bringing it down to the number it sits now.

They are currently sixth in the league in available cap space with $21.8 million according to Overthecap.com.

What about next year?

Not that Adams was ever going to be playing additional seasons on his current contract with its bloated numbers, but now it’s the Jets’ problem. The Raiders take $28.4 million off the 2025 books, bringing their salary cap room to a projected $104 million for next season. Only the Patriots are expected to have more cap room next year.

This could change before free agency opens in March, and probably should. With Nate Hobbs looking for an extension and contracts for Maxx Crosby and Kolton Miller entering non-guaranteed years, the Raiders figure to use some of that money to restructure and likely extend their deals.

Raiders make 4 roster moves ahead of Week 5 vs Broncos

Among several roster moves for the Raiders, they signed former first round pick K’Lavon Chaisson to the active roster from the practice squad.

It didn’t take long for K’Lavon Chaisson to get the call up from the practice squad to the active roster. Two weeks ago the team signed the former first round pick to the practice squad due to the injury to Tyree Wilson. Then last week against the Browns, he was activated due in part to the ankle injury to Maxx Crosby that caused Crosby to miss the game. Now they’ve made it official.

With the team sending LB Luke Masterson to the injured reserve, the Raiders have signed Chaisson to the active roster just ahead of facing the rival Broncos in Denver.

Crosby is Questionable for the game, so Chaisson’s addition could be to once again add much needed depth at the position.

Chaissaon played 41 snaps (69%) last week in his debut with the Raiders, collecting four combined tackles in that time.

In addition, the Raiders elevated RB Sincer McCormick and WR Alex Bachman from the practice squad.

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

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 activate former 1st round pick days after signing him to practice squad

K’Lavon Chaisson gets the call up days after signing him to practice squad

You can’t have too many pass rushers. But you can have too few. And at present the Raiders are lacking in that department.

They lost Malcolm Koonce to a knee injury just before the season opener, prompting them to sign Charles Snowden off the practice squad to the active roster. Then six snaps into that game, they lost Tyree Wilson to a knee injury.

Koonce’s injury had him placed on injured reserve. The Wilson knee injury is a sprain, which will have him out an unknown amount of time. To prepare for his absence, and to replace Snowden’s spot on the practice squad, they added K’Lavon Chaisson to the practice squad.

The former first round pick is still just 25 and therefore still carries that hope that he will live up to his potential. And with Wilson officially OUT this week, the Raiders are apparently ready to give him a shot already.

C/haisson has been activated from the practice squad for Sunday’s game in Baltimore along with CB Sam Webb who had been elevated for the season opener as well.

With Chaisson in the mix, the Raiders will go into the game with four edge rushers on the roster along with Maxx Crosby, Janarius Robinson, and Snowden.

Webb offers needed depth as well, giving them five active cornerbacks along with Nate Hobbs, Jack Jones, Jakorian Bennett, and Darnay Holmes.

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.