9 Raiders free agents remain unsigned after first week

One week later and 9 Raiders free agents still unemployed

A great many departing Raiders found new homes over the past week. Some were re-signed to the team as well. You can all the team’s additions, retentions, and subtractions right here in our free agency tracker.

But not all of those who were a member of the Raiders a week ago have found a landing spot yet. Specifically these nine.

These 17 Raiders are slated to be free agents in March

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back. Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have …

There are no more games for the Raiders to play this season. And several of the players who suited up for the team this season won’t be back.

Over the final couple weeks of the season the players begin thinking about coveting the time they have together, because the way this business is it’s unavoidable that the locker room will not be the same by the time they re-convene in April.

Some players will be in demand should they hit the market. Others will not. The ones who are re-signed are not necessarily the ones the team wants more. Likewise the ones that get away are not necessarily the ones they didn’t want. There are always a few free agents they may have wanted to bring back, but got an offer they liked better elsewhere.

At least 17 of those players will hit free agency unless the Raiders re-sign them beforehand.

Raiders copied Bears trick play during win vs. Chargers

Bears fans may have noticed one of the Raiders touchdowns against the Chargers on Thursday Night Football looking awfully familiar.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that’s the case, the Las Vegas Raiders must think highly of Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

The Raiders trounced the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football, winning 63-21 in one of the most lopsided games in recent memory. There were plenty of touchdowns scored by the Raiders in all sorts of ways, one of which appeared to have come straight from the Bears playbook from just last week.

Las Vegas scored their fifth touchdown of the evening on a direct snap to running back Brandon Bolden, who faked the pitch to quarterback Aidan O’Connell and ran up the left sideline for the 26-yard score. But as former NFL quarterback and current analyst Chase Daniel notes, we’ve seen that play before.

That’s right, the play came straight from the Bears, who ran it a week earlier in their win against the Detroit Lions. On their opening possession, the Bears had wide receiver DJ Moore take the direct snap, fake a pitch to quarterback Justin Fields, and run up the sideline for the 16-yard touchdown. The Raiders implemented a carbon copy of the play just four days later, from the fake pitch to Fields to the left tackle pulling and leading the way downfield.

NFL teams borrow from each other all the time. It’s already happened a few times this season and in big moments in years past as well. For example, the “Philly Special” in Super Bowl LII was taken from the Bears, who had run it at the end of the 2017 regular season. However, it’s interesting to see a team take a play and successfully implement it less than a week later.

Getsy may not be the most popular offensive coordinator in the league right now, but give him credit for ingenuity that has other teams copying his plays.

4 days after being shut out, Raiders score 42 points in first half vs Chargers

4 days after being shut out at home, Raiders score 42 points in first half vs Chargers

How did we get here? The Raiders came into their Thursday Night game fresh off a shut out at home last week to the Vikings. A game that ended wth a 3-0 Vikings win. In fact, the Raiders hadn’t scored a touchdown in six quarters, dating back to the second quarter against the Chiefs prior to their bye week.

And at the half, the Raiders were leading the Chargers 42-0.

The broke their scoreless and touchdown streak on their opening drive. Zamir White — who was replacing an injured Josh Jacobs — punched it in for his first career touchdown.

A strip sack by Malcolm Koonce got the Raiders the ball back at the LA 42-yard-line and the Raiders drove for a second touchdown on a deep ball from Aidan O’Connell to Tre Tucker.

Another fumble gave the Raiders the ball at the LA 31 and they again took advantage of it with a touchdown. This one on a diving 22-yard grab by Jakobi Meyers.

That gave them 21 points and it was just 12 minutes into the game. That is more points than they had scored in the previous 11 quarters combined.

From there, we had four straight punts — two from each team. But that final punt from AJ Cole was punched out on the return by DJ Turner to give the Raiders the ball at the LA 14-yard-line. Two plays later, Michael Mayer was wide open for an easy touchdown to make it a 28-0 lead.

At this point, the Raiders offense had their highest scoring game of the season. Prior to this, the Raiders offense had only scored over 20 points once. That was when they scored 23 points against the Giants in Antonio Pierce’s first game as interim head coach.

The Chargers would drive to the Vegas 35-yard-line on their next possession, but the Raiders defense stood them up and they turned it over on downs.

Then the Raiders drove for a fifth touchdown. This one with O’Connell lining up wide left and Brandon Bolden taking the direct snap and running 26 yards for the score. The Chargers had clearly just given up.

The 35 points was the most the Raiders team had scored all season, topping the 30 points they scored against the Giants.

And just to pour it on, the Raiders added one more touchdown just before the half to make it a 42-0 game, with O’Connell and Tre Tucker connecting for their second TD of the game.

RB Brandon Bolden razzed by Raiders teammates but 11-year NFL career no small feat

Brandon Bolden’s NFL staying power is impressive. But that comes with some pretty good “jabs” from his younger Raiders teammates.

No subject matter this offseason has been more prominent than the way the value of running backs in the NFL has tumbled. Not only was the running back franchise tag number the only one that actually went DOWN, but few teams are showing interest in giving them a second contract.

Josh Jacobs is front and center in this discussion with the Raiders slapping the franchise tag on him and the reining rushing champ refusing to sign it and staying away from camp as a result.

Across the league, running backs are seeing their heavy work loads work against them and their perceived expiration dates dropping, sometimes even to their late 20s.

Then there’s Brandon Bolden, who is entering his 11th NFL season at the age of 33.

That kind of staying power for a running back is exceedingly rare. The Adrian Petersons and Frank Gores appear to be a thing of the past.

What’s Bolden’s secret?

“Taking care of your body. Learning,” he said after Friday’s practice. “I had a great vet Vince Wilfork tell me ‘you can never make the club while in the tub’ as we’re both in the hot tub, so it was kind of funny. But you know he told me and kind of watching them take care of their body and how serious they were about what was going in their body and what they put out at practice. That kind of just stuck with me way back in 2012 and to this day just the same. Because we sit in meetings a lot especially during camp. I’ll be that guy who just goes and stands in the back of the room and break out a foam roller or just start stretching against the wall and stuff like that, but that’s because it’s what I’d been seeing Vince do since I’ve been in the league.”

While we all marvel at Bolden’s seeming outlier status in the league, his teammates prefer to give him a load of crap for it.

“I’m glad that Brandon gets so excited to play ball,” said Ameer Abdullah this week of his running back teammate. “He’s going into year 4000, so for a guy that’s been around for that long to still bring the same energy to the game is such a big lift for our team.”

Man when even Abdullah, who is heading into his ninth NFL season at the age of 30, is taking shots, you know the young guys are having a field day. But Bolden said he isn’t bothered by it. He even has a favorite joke.

“There’s a few jabs here and there, a couple of them,” said Bolden. “So, it’s just like, ‘yeah, you got that’. My favorite one to this day was ‘he was in the league when Jesus created the game of football’ (laughs). That’s been my favorite one so far, but yeah the jokes get outrageous more and more.”

Bolden said it was either rookie receiver Tre Tucker or first year back Brittain Brown who made the joke. Two guys who may or may not be among those who draw a blank when Bolden mentions some of the players he played with early in his career.

“When I came into the league — and they laugh at me when I say these names — my first Spring practice, Chad Ochocinco was there, Deion Branch was there,” Bolden continued. “I got a few rookies who are looking at me like ‘who are those guys?’ You know, I’ve been around a long time and I caught a lot of those guys towards the end of their careers and they played a long time. So, it’s kind of almost refreshing to be like ‘yeah, I’ve been in here this long and I’ve got to see a lot of great players play this game and got to watch them actually play and walk away from this game’.”

In case you were wondering, both Chad Johnson/Ochocinco and Deion Branch played 11 seasons in the NFL. While Vince Wilfork played for 13 seasons. If Bolden makes this team, he will have put together a similar career at a position with a typically shorter shelf life.

38 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 38 for New England

Here’s a list of every Patriots player to wear the No. 38 jersey number

In only 38 days, the New England Patriots will be kick-starting their 2023 regular season schedule against the Philadelphia Eagles. So we’re continuing our countdown series by listing every Patriots player that has ever worn the No. 38 jersey.

The one player on this list that immediately comes to mind is the current owner of the number, running back Rhamondre Stevenson.

In only his third year in the league, Stevenson has gone from backing up Damien Harris to being one of the best offensive playmakers on the Patriots’ roster. He ran for 1,040 yards and five touchdowns, while also hauling in 69 receptions for 421 yards and one touchdown in 2022.

By the end of the 2023 season, he could be looked at as one of the best running backs in the NFL.

Roland James is also a name that comes to mind when remembering some of the former Patriots greats that wore No. 38. The All-1980s Team member left a mark on the organization that’s still remembered and cherished to this very day.

Let’s take a look at every player that has worn the No. 38 throughout franchise history (via Pro Football Reference).

Raiders, Cardinals Week 2 injury report: Raiders without 3 starters

Raiders without 3 starters on first injury report for week 2

After seeing a clean injury report heading into season opener, the Raiders knew there would be a few players on it this week. As it turns out, there were four players who missed practice Wednesday, including starters Andre James (concussion), Denzel Perryman (ankle), and Tre’von Moehrig (hip).

Also missing for Raiders was RB Brandon Bolden. While DJ Turner was placed on injured reserve. All left last Sunday’s game with injury and didn’t return. Though James’s injury occurred on the game’s final play.

The Cardinals were missing a lot more players, including TE Zach Ertz (calf), WR Andre Isabella (back), WR Rondale Moore (hamstring), S Jalen Thompson (toe), and DE JJ Watt (calf).

Former Raiders CB Trayvon Mullen  was limited with a toe injury as was offensive lineman Justin Pugh (neck).

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Injuries pile up for Raiders in season opener vs Chargers

Raiders got considerably banged up, losing six players to injury in the opener, including four starters

This camp and preseason the Raiders have been very careful to try and keep their players healthy. Then they took the field to play and watched their guys one-by-one hobble off the field.

CB Anthony Averett left with a thumb injury and did not return. This injury may have been what prompted the team to sign CB Nickell Roby-Coleman Monday morning.

S Tre’Von Moehrig left with an ankle injury and did not return, Veteran Duron Harmon stepped in a played the rest of the way.

LB Denzel Perryman left with an ankle injury and didn’t return.

RB Brandon Bolden left with a hamstring injury and did not return.

WR DJ Turner left with an ankle injury.

Andre James suffered an apparent concussion on the final play for the Raiders and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital following the game.

All but Bolden and Turner are starters for the Raiders, so obviously their losses would be significant.

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Former Patriots RB Brandon Bolden suggests high honor for James White

Brandon Bolden has glowing praise for James White.

Former New England Patriots running back Brandon Bolden wants to see James White get the ultimate team honor following his recent retirement.

White was honored at a ceremony at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday. He spoke about the next stages of his life and received glowing praise from coach Bill Belichick.

The Patriots’ social media team shared photos of the event, and some of White’s former teammates chimed in to pay their respect to the man known as “Sweet Feet” on the football field.

Bolden, who left the Patriots to go to the Las Vegas Raiders in the offseason, clearly understands White’s place in the franchise’s history. So it was no surprise that he was one of the players with high praise for his former teammate in the comments.

“Red jacket next,” Bolden wrote, hinting at a Patriots Hall of Fame induction.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChVtxQtMO_z/?hl=en

White certainly has a place in Patriots history, and it would not be a stretch to say that a red jacket may be coming his way.

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Brandon Bolden had perfect analogy on difference in Josh McDaniels the head coach vs OC

What is the difference between Josh McDaniels the OC and Josh McDaniels the head coach? Brandon Bolden had the perfect analogy.

No player on this Raiders team is more familiar with Josh McDaniels than Brandon Bolden. The veteran running back has spent eight of his nine NFL seasons with McDaniels as his offensive coordinator.

Bolden was drafted by the Patriots in 2012, the year McDaniels came back to New England after a short unsuccessful stint as Broncos head coach. And aside from a single season in Miami for Bolden in 2018, he has been a regular part of the Patriots’ offense ever since.

There are a lot of differences between the duties of an offensive coordinator and a head coach. McDaniels found that out the hard way in Denver and claims he learned a lot from that experience. So, how different is McDaniels now from the past nine years with the Patriots? Just ask Bolden.

“The same. He just says it a little more stern now,” Bolden said. “It’s like if you’re getting babysat by your older brother and now the parents are nowhere at home and you’re stuck with your big brother for the weekend. It’s kind of like that.

“Josh has been cool. Just these past years to see him coming from Denver, coming back to New England. I had him since I was a rookie and just to see where he is now, like I’ve appreciated his journey and I appreciate being part of his journey. You know, very glad to be here. But there’s no big difference between Josh the coordinator and Josh the head coach. I mean, he demands perfect, and he wants perfect and we’re going to go out there and practice to make it perfect.”

Hopefully, Brandon had a good relationship with his older brother.

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