Raiders Rework Jalen Richard’s Deal
The Raiders agreed to a reworked contract with Jalen Richard (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). By shifting a portion of his base salary into bonuses, the running back will open up an additional $1.06MM in cap room for Las Vegas. 
The move will also kick some of Richard’s cap hit into 2022, the final year of his two-year, $7MM deal. Most of that sum is non-guaranteed, however, so it’s not a given that he’ll return next year.
Richard is in his sixth season with the Raiders. His best work came in 2018, when he registered a total of 866 yards from scrimmage. He wasn’t able to match that production in 2019 or 2020, combining for only 729 yards from scrimmage in 29 games. This year, the newly-turned 28-year-old was supposed to open the year as a primary backup to Josh Jacobs. Instead, he’s spent the bulk of the year sidelined with a foot injury.
Richard currently sits fourth on the Raiders’ RB depth chart, behind Jacobs, Kenyan Drake, and Peyton Barber. He has just eight rushing yards so far this year, but he’ll hope for a larger share of the workload this Sunday against the Giants.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/4/21
Today’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Claimed: LB Eric Wilson (from Eagles)
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: WR Dillon Stoner
New York Giants
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: RB Gary Brightwell
- Promoted: LB Benardrick McKinney
New York Jets
- Placed on IR: DE Bryce Huff
Washington Football Team
- Promoted: C Keith Ismael
Raiders Cut WR Henry Ruggs
The Raiders cut Henry Ruggs on Tuesday night. The team announced the transaction, which comes shortly after the second-year wide receiver was arrested for his role in a fatal car accident Tuesday morning.
Ruggs is facing two felony charges for an accident that left a woman dead. Las Vegas police say that Ruggs was impaired when his Corvette crashed into another car and killed the driver of the other vehicle. The accident occurred just before 4am in a residential neighborhood west of the Las Vegas Strip. Ruggs and a passenger in his vehicle were hospitalized. Upon being released from a Las Vegas-area hospital Tuesday, Ruggs was booked at the Clark County Detention Center.
Authorities identified the victim as a 23-year-old woman. The collision caused the victim’s vehicle to burst into flames, killing the woman and her dog, according to ESPN.com. Ruggs faces charges of DUI resulting in death and reckless driving. The first charge carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in prison. The second runs from probation to six years. Ruggs, 22, is due to appear in court Wednesday.
Ruggs and a female passenger in his Corvette suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The woman who was in Ruggs’ car remains hospitalized. Raiders players returned to the team’s Henderson, Nev., facility Monday, after their bye week, but had another day off Tuesday, according to ESPN.
Although players hit with felony charges are eligible for the commissioner’s exempt list, which keeps those players on teams’ rosters while legal matters play out, the Raiders acted swiftly to move on from Ruggs. This marks an abrupt end to Ruggs’ Raiders tenure, and the former Alabama standout’s NFL career is obviously in serious jeopardy. Ruggs will head to waivers, though that will almost certainly be irrelevant here. The Raiders have a clear path to voiding the remaining guarantees in Ruggs’ four-year, $16.67MM rookie contract. Ruggs’ deal was fully guaranteed.
Some Raiders staffers preferred Ruggs’ Alabama teammate, Jerry Jeudy in last year’s first round, but the team made Ruggs the first receiver drafted in 2020. Las Vegas drafted Ruggs with the 12th overall pick. The deep threat struggled as a rookie, catching 26 passes for 452 yards in 13 games. Ruggs had shown improvement to become a more consistent part of Las Vegas’ offense this season, having made 24 receptions for 469 yards and two touchdowns through seven games.
Las Vegas has fellow homegrown wideouts Hunter Renfrow and Bryan Edwards signed beyond 2021, with Darren Waller under c contract beyond this season as well. As of now, Zay Jones is set to step into Ruggs’ starting position, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes. The Ruggs exit certainly leaves a void in the AFC West-leading team’s passing attack, but Renfrow, Waller and Edwards each have posted yardage totals north of 300 this season. Ruggs exited Week 7 as the team’s leading receiver, however.
Raiders Waive QB Nathan Peterman
5:07pm: Indeed, the Raiders and Peterman are not truly planning to separate. Peterman is expected to land on Las Vegas’ practice squad, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Unless another team poaches him, Peterman will stay on as the Raiders’ de facto third-stringer.
4:48pm: Nathan Peterman is no longer on the Raiders’ 53-man roster. The team cut its third-string quarterback Tuesday, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. The Raiders also waived linebacker Javin White.
Since this transaction processed after today’s 3pm trade deadline, Peterman will head to the waiver wire. If unclaimed, the fifth-year quarterback will be a free agent. The Raiders signed Peterman to an extension in February; just more than $500K remains on his deal.
Following some disastrous in-game outings with Buffalo, Peterman landed in Oakland in December 2018. The then-Jon Gruden-led franchise then kept Peterman around via a reserve/futures deal and used him as a Derek Carr reserve over the next three seasons. Marcus Mariota stands as Carr’s backup; the Raiders do not have a quarterback on their practice squad.
Given Gruden’s abrupt exit, it will be somewhat interesting if the Raiders bring back Peterman. He remains practice squad-eligible, should Las Vegas go this route. Mariota has spent time on IR in each of his two Raiders seasons and certainly battled health issues while with the Titans.
A fifth-round pick in 2017, Peterman has a ghastly 3-to-12 touchdown pass-to-interception ratio and has completed 52.6% of his passes (at just 4.2 yards per throw). The 27-year-old passer has nevertheless stuck around as a backup arm. He appeared two Raiders games, the second of which coming earlier this season.
Raiders’ Henry Ruggs To Be Charged With DUI Resulting In Death
Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs will be charged in connection with a fatal car crash on Tuesday morning (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). Las Vegas police say that Ruggs was impaired when his Corvette crashed into another car and killed the driver of another vehicle. 
The crash occurred around 4am when authorities say Ruggs’ car collided with a Toyota Rav4. When the fire department arrived, they found the other driver deceased. Ruggs, 22, was transported to the hospital with “non-life-threatening injuries,” per the police report.
Ruggs was booked into Clark County Detention Center on Tuesday afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The victim was a 23-year-old woman, according to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (on Twitter).
Ruggs, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 draft, posted ~1,500 yards and 24 touchdowns over his final two years at Alabama. On the field, the 6’0″ receiver has been a potent deep threat for the Raiders, averaging 18.4 yards per catch as a pro. Now, after today’s tragedy, his career is in limbo.
The wide receiver has two years and change to go on his contract, per the terms of his four-year, $16.67MM deal. The remaining salary and guarantees could be voided, depending on how his case progresses. In any event, he’ll likely spend the rest of the 2021 season away from the team.
The Raiders are now left with just three wide receivers on the roster in Bryan Edwards, Hunter Renfrow, and Zay Jones. Practice squad WRs Javon Wims, D.J. Turner, and Dillon Stoner could be candidates for promotion between now and Sunday’s contest against the Giants.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/1/21
Today’s taxi squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: RB Tavien Feaster, OL Marcus Henry
- Released: CB Lavert Hill
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: TE Eric Tomlinson
- Placed on IR: OT Andre Smith
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: QB Brett Hundley
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
- Released: WR Josh Imatorbhebhe
Las Vegas Raiders
- Released: CB Tony Brown
Washington Football Team
- Released: DT T.Y. McGill
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/1/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Baltimore Ravens
- Placed on reserve/NFI list: LB Malik Harrison
Green Bay Packers
- Designated for return: WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted: RB Deon Jackson, S Josh Jones
- Released: QB Brett Hundley
- Released from IR: WR JJ Nelson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Released: LB Javin White
Los Angeles Rams
- Placed on IR: WR Tutu Atwell
New York Giants
- Placed on IR: LB Carter Coughlin
San Francisco 49ers
- Designated for return: RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
Tennessee Titans
- Activated from IR: C Daniel Munyer
Raiders To Release WR Willie Snead
The Raiders are moving on from Willie Snead. The veteran wide receiver requested his release, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, and the team will grant it (Twitter link).
Snead has played a lesser role in Las Vegas compared to his jobs in New Orleans and Baltimore, and the Raiders — like they did with John Brown just before the season started — agreed to release a veteran wideout. The seventh-year slot receiver had only caught three passes for 32 yards as a Raider.
Because Snead is being cut ahead of the trade deadline, he will go straight to free agency. Had the Raiders cut him after next week’s deadline, the veteran would have been subject to waivers.
A late-March signing, Snead profiled as a depth player for the Raiders. He logged only 8% of their offensive snaps through seven games. This marked a sharp decline from his Ravens role last season, when he played 63% of their offensive snaps.
Snead, 29, played three seasons with the Saints and Ravens. His most productive years came in New Orleans, when he topped 890 receiving yards in his first two seasons, and the former UDFA has been a serviceable auxiliary wideout in the years since. Snead caught 33 passes for 432 yards in Baltimore’s run-heavy offense last season. The Raiders added Snead and Brown earlier this year but have used homegrown targets Henry Ruggs, Hunter Renfrow and Bryan Edwards as their primary receivers this season.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/25/21
Today’s practice squad moves:
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: C Hroniss Grasu
- Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
New York Giants
- Signed: TE Jake Hausmann
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: S Tony Jefferson
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/25/21
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: DE Zach Allen, LB Chandler Jones (story)
Denver Broncos
- Waived: LB Barrington Wade
Detroit Lions
- Placed on IR: OL Logan Stenberg
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed to active roster: TE Daniel Helm
Los Angeles Chargers
- Designated for return: DE Justin Jones
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: S Sheldrick Redwine (from Panthers’ practice squad)
New Orleans Saints
- Promoted: DT Josiah Bronson
New York Jets
- Released from IR: OT Teton Saltes
Philadelphia Eagles
- Claimed off waivers: QB Reid Sinnett (from Dolphins)
- Waived: LS Rick Lovato
San Francisco 49ers
- Activated from reserve/suspended list: DL Jordan Willis