Raiders Notes: Jackson, Ellis, Liuget, Brown
The Raiders don’t seem sure on what to do with guard Gabe Jackson and defensive lineman Justin Ellis, both of whom are nursing knee injuries, as Jerry McDonald of the Mercury News writes. Jackson suffered a knee sprain in early August and is expected to miss at least four regular season games, while Ellis wouldn’t be able to play in Thursday’s preseason game even if he was needed. While Oakland could keep both Jackson and Ellis on their 53-man roster, that would mean retaining two players who won’t be of much use when the season gets underway. Alternatively, both men could be placed on injured reserve, but they’d have to first be carried on the Raiders’ initial 53-man roster.
Here’s more on the Black and Silver:
- Veteran defensive tackle Corey Liuget received a fully guaranteed one-year, $1MM deal from the Raiders, tweets Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio. The pact includes a $930K base salary and a $70K signing bonus. The 2018 season couldn’t have gone much worse for Liuget, as a suspension, pay cut, and season-ending knee injury littered what became a lost campaign. Cut by the Chargers in February, Liguet since met with the Giants, Seahawks, Jaguars, and Cardinals before landing in Oakland. Always a solid run defender, Liuget could also give the Raiders an interior pass-rush boost.
- If the Raiders wanted to void Antonio Brown‘s contractual guarantees as a result of his helmet fiasco, they’d probably have a good case, as Joel Corry of CBSSports.com writes. Brown’s contact with the Raiders contains more than $30MM in guaranteed money, so voiding that cash would certainly give Oakland more long-term options. The star wide receiver lost his second helmet-based grievance earlier this week and appears ready to play, so this issue won’t rear its head just yet.
- Head coach Jon Gruden says the Raiders have engaged in trade talks with rival NFL clubs as the regular season approaches, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic (Twitter link). While it’s unclear what position group Oakland may want to trade from, Tafur today identified tight end as the deepest spot on the Raiders’ roster.
- Speaking of that tight end position, Derek Carrier has the edge over Luke Willson for the Raiders’ third TE slot, per Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area. Darren Waller and rookie Foster Moreau are expected to serve as Oakland’s top two tight ends.
Raiders Sign Corey Liuget, Place Doug Martin On IR
The Raiders have signed free agent defensive tackle Corey Liuget, the team announced. Oakland has also placed running back Doug Martin on IR, which contradicts reports that surfaced earlier today indicating that Martin was released.
Liuget has generated plenty of interest on the open market this offseason. He met with the Jaguars, Giants, Seahawks, and Cardinals before signing with Oakland, his former division rival.
Liuget spent the first eight years of his career with the Chargers after the Bolts made him the 18th-overall pick of the 2011 draft. Earlier in his career, Liuget made noise as a defensive end and managed 18 sacks for the Chargers between 2011-2014. His sack totals, predictably, plummeted when he was moved to the interior on a full-time basis, and his 2018 suspension for PEDs further diminished his stock. However, he should serve as a quality rotational piece for Oakland’s D-line.
As for Martin, Oakland may indeed end up releasing him with an injury settlement, as Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network says that Martin will be healthy soon and will be ready to play somewhere (Twitter link). The Raiders, meanwhile, will open the season with rookie Josh Jacobs as their No. 1 RB, with DeAndre Washington serving as Jacobs’ backup.
In addition to those moves, Oakland also signed UDFA linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams and waived long snapper Andrew DePaola.
Antonio Brown Loses Second Grievance
Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown has lost his second helmet-related grievance, per Pro Football Talk (via Twitter). AB will wear a league-approved helmet in 2019 and beyond (Twitter link).
This was the expected outcome, and the ruling should resolve this issue once and for all. Brown has been practicing and seems to be past the foot malady he suffered during a cryotherapy mishap, so Raiders fans just have to cross their fingers and hope that Brown has put his off-field matters behind him.
Indeed, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says that no further proceedings are expected (Twitter link). Pro Football Talk tweets that Brown is close to selecting a new helmet, and that it will be a custom-made model. Brown is also going to get an endorsement deal from the maker, so, once again, AB lands jelly-side up.
The 31-year-old wideout has not played this preseason, though he is expected to be ready to go for Week 1. The Raiders are not favored to make the playoffs this year, but this year’s “Hard Knocks” outfit should at least be interesting to watch.
The club opens the season at home against the Broncos on September 9.
Raiders Release Doug Martin
The Raiders have released veteran running back Doug Martin, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). Martin was Oakland’s leading rusher in 2018, but the club selected Josh Jacobs in the first round of this year’s draft with the expectation that he would become the new No. 1 RB, and DeAndre Washington‘s excellent preseason earned him the top backup job behind Jacobs.
Martin, a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers, spent the first six years of his career with Tampa Bay before catching on with the Raiders in March 2018. In his lone season with the Silver-and-Black, Martin compiled 723 rushing yards on 172 carries — good for a respectable 4.2 YPC mark — and four touchdowns. It’s a far cry from his 2015 First Team All-Pro campaign, when he piled up 1,402 yards on the ground and 271 yards through the air, but he proved that he can still be a serviceable back.
Head coach Jon Gruden is fond of Martin, so this move may be about getting the 30-year-old back a chance to catch on with an RB-needy team as the preseason draws to a close. Indeed, the Texans are now very much in the market for an established rusher, and many pundits are already connecting Martin to Houston.
Oakland cleared $1.9MM of cap space with the move.
Ryan Grant Trade On Horizon?
- Hard Knocks has chronicled rookie UDFA Keelan Doss‘ attempt to make the Raiders, and after three preseason games, Vic Tafur of The Athletic has the receiver making the team over Ryan Grant. As for the former Redskins and Colts talent, the Raiders held him out of action Thursday in Winnipeg. While that could mean Grant has secured a spot on Oakland’s 53-man roster, Tafur expects a trade to occur in the coming days rather than the team keeping seven wideouts.
- The most recent Hard Knocks episode showed plenty of an irritated Jon Gruden, with the ire being primarily directed toward backup quarterbacks. But Tafur expects the Raiders to keep both Mike Glennon and Nathan Peterman, pegging Gruden as viewing the former as the more reliable player and the latter with greater upside (despite his previous regular-season resume).
Antonio Brown Ruling To Come Next Week
For the second time this month, an independent arbitrator has concluded a grievance hearing regarding Antonio Brown‘s helmet (via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). A ruling is expected to come next week, according to one source. 
This seemingly minor issue has had – and may still have – major implications for Brown and the Raiders. The NFL barred Brown from playing with his beloved Schutt AiR Advantage helmet and the wide receiver reportedly walked out of training camp due to his dissatisfaction. Later, agent Drew Rosenhaus claimed that Brown’s absence was actually due to the malady he sustained while receiving cryotherapy treatment.
Brown is now back in camp and practicing with a certified helmet, but there’s no telling what could happen next with the mercurial star if he does not win his second grievance. The 31-year-old has not suited up for preseason action in the midst of all of this and it not be a shock if he were to change course yet again before the start of the season.
The Raiders open their season in Oakland on Sept. 9 against the Broncos.
Antonio Brown Practicing In Certified Helmet
Raiders GM Mike Mayock expressed his frustrations with Antonio Brown over the weekend, and he implied that he wouldn’t entertain Brown’s drama much longer. Mayock said, “[h]e’s upset about the helmet issue. We have supported that; we appreciate that. At this point, we’ve pretty much exhausted all avenues of relief. From our perspective, it’s time for him to be all-in or all-out.”
Whether Mayock’s words were the impetus behind it or not, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that Brown — who reported to practice on Monday, though the club’s walk-through was ultimately canceled — practiced today with a certified helmet (Twitter link). Obviously, that’s a good sign for the Raiders, as it suggests that even if Brown loses his second helmet-related grievance, he will play nicely and go along with whatever headgear the league tells him he must wear.
Speaking of that second grievance, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that an arbitrator will hear Brown’s case on Friday, so this matter should be wrapped up fairly quickly. But since Brown is involved, it’s hard to say for certain.
Brown, of course, had been trying to have his prized Schutt AiR Advantage helmet certified by the league, and Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic says that the NFL’s Canadian testing lab has ordered some 2011 Schutt helmets from Virginia Tech (Twitter link). Earlier reports suggested that a 2011 Schutt AiR Advantage failed safety testing, but perhaps the league is attempting to compromise by finding AB a different model from the same maker.
We should have some more clarity after Friday’s hearing, but you can probably expect to hear more Brown-related reports in the meantime.
Antonio Brown Files Grievance Against NFL
Antonio Brown may have reported to Raiders practice today, but the drama is far from over. Pro Football Talk reports (via Twitter) that the star wideout has filed a second grievance against the NFL for their unwillingness to let him wear his desired helmet. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets that the grievance will be heard on “an expedited basis.”
Specifically, Brown is upset that the league won’t let him wear any “Schutt AiR Advantage helmet less than 10 years old.” Rapoport tweets that the receiver believes “he should be afforded the same right provided to other NFL players to have a 1-year grace period to phase out his helmet in 2019 season.” Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com writes that the NFL allowed Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to play last season with a helmet that wasn’t deemed safe.
The 31-year-old’s first grievance against the NFL ended with an arbitrator ruling against the wideout. As our own Zach Links detailed, Brown’s preferred helmet is too old to be re-certified, and this means the helmet is not sanctioned by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. Brown had previously threatened to retire if the league would not let him wear his preferred headgear.
Brown showed up at the Raiders’ facility Monday morning and was in attendance for the daily team meeting. The wideout has put the Raiders through the ringer in recent weeks. A cryotherapy mishap left the wide receiver with a foot injury, which was believed to have been the cause of his training camp absence. Instead, the no-show was attributed to the helmet dispute.
Antonio Brown Reports To Raiders
The Antonio Brown soap opera could be winding down. On Monday, the Raiders’ star wide receiver reported to practice, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
[RELATED: Drew Rosenhaus Downplays Antonio Brown’s Absence]
Brown showed up at the Raiders’ facility Monday morning and was in attendance for the daily team meeting. The club’s walk-through practice was canceled, but Brown is back in the building and, ostensibly, ready to get to work.
The mercurial Brown has put the Raiders through the ringer in recent weeks. A cryotherapy mishap left the wide receiver with a foot injury, which was believed to have been the cause of his training camp absence. Then, we learned that Brown was actually staying away because the NFL barred him from wearing his favorite helmet. Brown is still awaiting the outcome of tests to his prized Schutt AiR Advantage headgear, but it now seems like he’s on the right track to suit up in September.
Drew Rosenhaus On Raiders’ Antonio Brown
Antonio Brown missed another practice on Sunday, but Drew Rosenhaus is doing his darndest to keep the hysteria to a minimum. On Monday morning, Rosenhaus went on WSVN-TV’s “Sports Xtra” to discuss the Raiders star.
[RELATED: Antonio Brown Misses Another Raiders Practice]
“We have worked very closely with the Raiders, and will continue to work very closely with the Raiders,” Rosenhaus said. “I’m not sure we agree that we’ve exhausted all the options, as [Raiders GM] Mike Mayock said, but there’s no doubt it’s still an ongoing process. We are trying to work with the team and the league and the union on a solution. We haven’t figured that out yet.
“To say that AB is upset about the decision to not let him wear his helmet is accurate, but we’re still processing it and figuring it out. I wouldn’t make too much about him not being there today, as much as we’re still trying to come up with a solution that works for everyone.”
The league is allowing Brown to find a version of the Schutt AiR Advantage helmet that can pass rigorous NOCSAE testing, but it’s not clear if he’ll be able to get clearance on his favorite headgear.