Offseason workouts came and went. Then rookie minicamp. Then Organized Training Activities (OTAs) and then minicamp. Gone. None of them happened because the coronavirus had other plans. Now the latest news has rosters trimming from 90 to as few as 75 players for training camp, leaving many undrafted and first-year roster hopefuls sweating it out to see if they will get their shot.
In total, there are eight undrafted rookies on the Raiders’ current roster along with 11 first-year players. If most years are any indication, a few of them would have been able to spend the offseason practices and training camp proving themselves and find themselves on the roster come the final cutdown.
They won’t have that chance. I have seen some suggest that reducing the roster by 10-15 players wouldn’t make much difference. That teams have almost the entire roster already decided with very little room for anyone to break in, and 75 players would still mean 22 more players come to camp than will be on the final roster, so it’s not a big deal.
I think it is. And there are a few current Raiders players who would agree with me.
1. WR Tyrell Williams
Williams had intriguing size at 6-4, 205 pounds, but coming out of Western Oregon University, he would need to prove he wasn’t just dominant against lower-level competition.
Williams was waived out of camp but had shown enough to be invited back onto the practice squad and eventually called up to the active roster. After a rookie season with just two catches, he blew up to catch 69 passes for 1059 yards in his second season.
Williams didn’t even make the roster initially. So, it seems likely that had that roster been trimmed by 15 players, he could have been among them. Before ever even getting a chance to take the field and prove his worth.
2. RB Jalen Richard
Richard flew under the radar coming out of Southern Mississippi. I mean way under. And not just because he flies so low to the ground (he’s 5-8). He wasn’t even a priority undrafted free agent. He was a tryout player. He came to Raiders rookie minicamp and earned a place on the offseason roster.
This year there was no rookie minicamp, which means a lot of players will not be able to get in with the same route Richard took to the pros.
Richard took his chance and ran with it. He outplayed DeAndre Washington, who was drafted in the fifth round the same year. Washington was allowed to leave as a free agent this year while Richard enters his fifth season in Silver & Black. In 2018, his 68 receptions were tied for the most on the team.
3. LB Cory Littleton
Undrafted out of Washington, Littleton would earn a spot on the roster. He went from that to appearing in every game as a rookie and was named the team’s Rookie of the Year.
Despite his solid rookie performance, he entered his second season as a backup behind first-round picks Mark Barron and Alec Ogletree. His third season, the team traded away Ogletree and Littleton was a full-time starter for the first time. He took that and earned a spot in the Pro Bowl.
Last season he improved his tackle numbers and was the most coveted linebacker on the free-agent market, signing a lucrative long term deal with the Raiders.
Every step of the way, Littleton proved he was worth more than his undrafted status. But he needed the opportunity for that first step.
4. RT Trent Brown
Brown was drafted. Barely. He was the 244th pick in the 2015 draft, which is 12 spots from Mr. Irrelevant. Seventh-round picks don’t have much more standing on a team than undrafted free agents. They’re merely the ones the team figures wouldn’t sign with them, so they use their last pick on them instead.
For context, of the 38 players selected in the seventh round in 2015, only 12 are still in the NFL. That includes three picks by the Raiders, two of whom never played an NFL snap, and none of whom are still in the league.
Brown didn’t get his first NFL snap on offense until Week 9 and in Week 15, he started his first game after an injury to guard Alex Boone had the team move Erik Pears inside and put Brown in at right tackle. He impressed the team enough in those two starts that he became the full time starting right tackle after that.
Another season as the starting right tackle in San Francisco and he was traded to the Patriots, where he became their starting left tackle, helping them to win the Super Bowl. Then the Raiders made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. Four years from undrafted to a record contract. Hard to imagine anyone having a shot at doing that among this year’s crop.
5. FB Alec Ingold
Fullback isn’t the valued position it once was. So, not many get drafted. Ingold was seen as a player who had the talent to be drafted but wasn’t. He came to the Raiders who already had fullback Ryan Yuracheck battling with established veteran Keith Smith.
During OTA’s, Yuracheck was injured, waived, and cut, leaving Ingold vs. Smith. Had there been no OTA’s and the roster had been cut by 15 players, not only might the team have opted for the established veteran fullback, but also might have gone with Yuracheck who had already been in camp with the Raider the previous season and spent 2018 on the team’s practice squad.
Instead, Ingold outlasted Yuracheck and beat out Smith to earn the fullback job and his rookie season he showed he was probably the best blocking back the team has had in some time.
A few other notable undrafted players who have made the team in recent years include linebacker Nicholas Morrow, long snapper Trent Sieg, center Andre James, and cornerback Keisean Nixon
