Although defensive lineman Christian Wilkins was just one season into a four-year, $110MM contract, the Raiders released him last July. They designated Wilkins a terminated vested veteran, voiding $35.2MM in guaranteed money, after he declined their request to undergo a follow-up procedure on his foot. Wilkins first had foot surgery in October 2024, keeping him out of 12 games that year, and suffered another injury to his foot during the rehab process.
The 30-year-old Wilkins has not signed anywhere since the Raiders released him, and though he is still rehabbing his foot, he intends to play in 2026, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. There is widespread interest in Wilkins, per Schefter, who reports 26 of the league’s 32 teams have reached out to his camp. Wilkins should not have difficulty finding his next team when he is ready to sign.
After an excellent run at Clemson, Wilkins entered the NFL as the 13th overall pick of the Dolphins in 2019. The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder started 77 of 81 games over five years with the Dolphins. The run-stuffing Wilkins was especially effective during his last three seasons in Miami, where he combined for 252 tackles and 17 sacks. He also played in all 51 of the Dolphins’ regular-season games in that span, but his career went off the rails during his only year with the Raiders.
With 17 tackles, six QB hits and two sacks in five games, Williams remained productive in Las Vegas. However, along with his foot troubles, Wilkins was the subject of an HR complaint after he kissed a teammate on the head. That played into the Raiders’ decision to release Wilkins. The NFLPA filed a grievance on Wilkins’ behalf to recoup the guaranteed money the Raiders voided, but a ruling has not come down yet.
Thats nuts
Pack sand on this guy for what he did to raiders.
He’s going to go back to being an all-pro and have a great career. Raiders tried to ruin him.
Bengals, there’s your gift defensive lineman. Can’t blame the guy for not wanting to get more surgery.
As a bengals fan I am desperate for more firepower on the d line but after the freaked out stuff he did in the raiders locker room I will gladly pass
Personally if he’s as good as he was before the injury I wouldn’t care if he wanted to French kiss Joe Burrow. Rumors get started and get added on to and the next thing you know nobody knows the truth. Give the guy a second chance and add a clause where he can earn extra money if he doesn’t kiss anybody, or smack guys on the ass.
Getting cut by the Raiders magically extends your career by 7-8 years… Someone is gonna sign him again
Aside from the head kissing incident, there have been a lot of stories going around about Wilkins, and they’re pretty…odd. Not in regards to his sexuality, but in regards to the kinds of things that he does in terms of touching people. I’d be concerned about the locker room and how they’d react to him. This is all rumor and conjecture (with the occasional mic’d up oddity and on camera contact), but I think that I’d be more worried about what Wilkins has going on upstairs than with his foot rehab if I were to bring him in to a locker room.
The dude is absolutely hilarious when mic’d up.
Hoping teams forget.
Let’s go Roger, do a make right for the Raiders after LIECosta’s Ravensgate shenanigans with Crosby BS, cut the Wilkins guaranteed contract the NFLPA wants to be paid in full when Wilkins foot and his own inability to heed HR complaints from teammates caused him to become the biggest FA bust of that 2024 season.
Go back to Miami.