The Raiders have to cut their roster down to 53 players by Tuesday at 4:00 PM ET. They’ve already started doing that on Sunday, trimming the roster down by about 10.
One spot that is worth watching is on the offensive line as the Raiders returned all five starters from a year ago. But that doesn’t mean that all five will make the roster in 2023, let alone start.
In a recent article by Vic Tafur of The Athletic, he wrote about a handful of notable players that could be on the roster bubble heading into Tuesday. That list included starting right guard Alex Bars, who might go from a 2022 starter to out of a job:
We predicted that Alex Bars wouldn’t start 14 games again for the Raiders this season, but we didn’t think he was in danger of not making the roster. Especially because he can be an emergency center. But here we are. Greg Van Roten seems to have wrestled away Bars’ starting right guard spot, and Netane Muti is pushing him pretty hard for the backup spot.
It would seem strange for the Raiders to cut a starting guard from last year, but that feels like a strong possibility going into the week. The best bet is the Raiders keeping Bars and potentially shopping him later in the year. But there does seem to be a real possibility that Bars isn’t on the initial 53-man roster.
Bars is a former undrafted free agent from Chicago (2019), who signed with the Raiders during the 2022 offseason. He played 87 percent of the offensive snaps last year, playing exclusively right guard. Bars will turn 28 before the 2023 season begins.
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