Raiders To Release RB Kenyan Drake

AUGUST 23: As Drake expected, no trade materialized. The Raiders have followed through on their pledge to release the six-year veteran running back, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

AUGUST 22: Given a two-year deal in 2021, Kenyan Drake is not expected to be part of the 2022 Raiders. Las Vegas plans to release the veteran running back, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The team is still holding out hope for a trade and will hold off on an official release for a bit, per Josina Anderson of CBS Sports (on Twitter). But Drake’s contract makes a deal difficult.

The former Dolphins and Cardinals back signed an $11MM deal during Jon Gruden‘s final offseason in charge. Teams must cut their rosters from 85 to 80 players by Tuesday afternoon. Drake does not expect a trade to happen.

I’m just waiting on the next 24 hours,” Drake said, via Anderson (all Twitter links). “I don’t think anyone would trade for me just because of the contract situation, either way Raiders have to pay me.

Honestly, I felt like the writing has been on the wall recently — like within the last two to three weeks. I never felt like I had a fair shot to really compete for the job coming off the injury. I feel like, as time progressed through camp, there really wasn’t a role for me to have anymore because they had guys that they brought in, they traded for and I was kind of odd man out, especially coming off my injury.”

Because the Raiders fully guaranteed Drake $8.5MM, a release will come with some dead money. The Raiders also restructured Drake’s deal in March, creating some cap space but pushing more money into the future. The Raiders will eat $8MM in dead money from this cut, though only $3.6MM of it will go on this year’s cap. The move will provide less than $500K in cap savings. A trade would lessen the blow, moving Drake’s $2.5MM base salary off the books.

Drake, 28, did not finish out his first season as a Raider; a broken leg sidelined him in December. Drake had recovered, however, and suited up for Las Vegas’ preseason games thus far. The Raiders’ new Josh McDanielsDave Ziegler regime added Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah and drafted two backs — fourth-rounder Zamir White and seventh-rounder Brittain Brown — this offseason. The roster crunch behind Josh Jacobs left Drake without a place, with Vic Tafur of The Athletic noting (via Twitter) Abdullah — a former second-round pick but a player whose primary role in recent years has been as a kick returner — had beaten him out.

The Cardinals transition-tagged Drake in 2020, giving the former Dolphins third-rounder a nice payday to stick around following an in-season 2019 trade. Drake worked as Arizona’s primary back in 2020, and Gruden — who was interested in the Alabama product in 2020 as well, prior to the Cards tagging him — viewed him as a player who would help on passing downs. After totaling 1,092 scrimmage yards in 2020, Drake amassed just 545 (with three touchdowns) last season.

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