Raiders Claim WR Jordan Lasley
The Raiders have claimed wide receiver Jordan Lasley off waivers from the Ravens, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Lasley, a fifth-round pick in 2018, was cut by Baltimore on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Lasley got into a fight during practice and celebrated a touchdown by throwing a football into a pond. Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said that neither incident precipitated Lasley’s release, adding the club simply wanted to give the second-year pass-catcher a chance at finding a new team during training camp, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com and Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic (Twitter links). However, the Ravens didn’t believe Lasley was improving, and he did have effort questions, tweets Zrebiec.
Lasley didn’t see a single snap during his rookie campaign. He’ll now join an Oakland wide receiver depth chart that already includes Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, Hunter Renfrow, Ryan Grant, and Marcell Ateman, among others.
In a corresponding move, the Raiders announced that they’ve waived wide receiver Brian Burt.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/1/19
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: S Brynden Trawick
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: G Rishard Cook, K Joey Slye
- Waived/Injured: G Dorian Johnson, LB Brandon Chubb
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: DL Dee Liner
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: DT Anthony Rush
Raiders Audition FBs Derrick Coleman, Tommy Bohanon
The Raiders worked out fullbacks Derrick Coleman and Tommy Bohanon earlier this week, tweets Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Oakland deployed incumbent fullback Keith Smith on 162 offensive snaps in 2018, good for sixth-most among fullbacks league-wide. However, Smith is currently on the active/non-football injury list after suffering a meniscus injury while working out on his own. As such, the only fullback on the Raiders’ roster is undrafted rookie Alec Ingold.
Coleman, 28, spent the 2012-15 campaigns with the Seahawks, but an alleged hit-and-run incident in 2015 kept him out of the NFL in 2016. He played 224 offensive snaps for the fullback-heavy Falcons in 2017 before spending last year with the Cardinals, with whom he mostly saw special teams duty.
Bohanon, a seventh-round pick in 2013, has appeared in 68 career games (30 starts) for the Jets and Jaguars over the past five seasons. While he isn’t as well-regarded a run-blocker as Coleman, Bohanon has offered far more versatility in the passing game. Bohanon has received 46 targets during his career, whereas Coleman has only seen 21.
Raiders To Work Out RB Mike Gillislee
Mike Gillislee will participate in his third known workout for a team this year. The Raiders are set to audition the former Dolphins, Bills, Patriots and Saints running back, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The 28-year-old back worked out for the Lions and Jaguars earlier this year. He has not been able to replicate his take-notice work with the 2016 Bills, for whom he scored nine touchdowns and averaged 5.7 yards per carry as LeSean McCoy‘s backup.
After a three-touchdown opening night with the 2017 Pats, Gillislee has not been given many opportunities. He saw his New England role reduced as 2017 wore on and received just 16 carries in four games with New Orleans last season.
The Raiders re-signed Doug Martin and gave Jalen Richard a second-round tender. Those two represent Oakland’s top depth pieces behind assumed starter Josh Jacobs. Reggie McKenzie-era draft pick DeAndre Washington remains on the roster as well.
Gruden Has High Praise For Peterman
- Raiders coach Jon Gruden caused quite the uproar online earlier today when he raved about quarterback Nathan Peterman. Speaking to the media at camp, Gruden said “this Nate Peterman is growing on me,” per Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Twitter link). Gruden also said “I know he’s got some nightmare performances in the NFL, but when you watch the film, you can see why: It’s not all his fault.” Peterman, of course, has become somewhat of a punchline during his brief NFL career due to a couple of brutal performances. In his first career start as a rookie for the Bills in 2017, he threw five interceptions before being benched. He was equally as disastrous last year, tossing seven interceptions in just two starts and two relief appearances. After being cut by Buffalo, the Pittsburgh product latched on with Oakland. He’s battling with Mike Glennon for backup duties, and it sounds like he has a very real chance to hold Derek Carr‘s clipboard in 2019.
Raiders Sign Ethan Westbrooks
The Raiders have signed defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks, according to a team announcement. In related moves, they have waived defensive lineman Ronald Ollie and tight end Erik Swoope. 
Westbrooks spent his first five years with the Rams and started in nine contests for L.A. in 2017. In that season, he registered four sacks, marking a new career high.
Last year, however, was not his finest. In September, Westbrooks was cuffed for possession of a stolen handgun. He still appeared in all 16 games for the Rams, but he made zero starts for their star-studded front seven and finished out with just eight tackles and one sack. With the Raiders, he’ll likely find himself as a depth addition once again.
Swoope, a former basketball standout at the University of Miami, had a noteworthy year with the Colts in 2016. Thanks in part to injury, he has yet to see similar playing time since then or match his average of 19.8 yards per reception (across a limited sample of 15 catches).
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/28/19
Here are today’s minor moves. We will update this post as necessary throughout the day:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: C John Yarbrough
- Waived: C Lo Falemaka
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: RB Keith Ford
- Waived: RB Aca’Cedric Ware
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: WR Malachi Dupre, WR Jordan Smallwood
- Waived/injured: WR Dylan Cantrell, WR Fred Trevillion
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: RB James Butler
- Waived: RB Chris Warren
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: QB Vincent Testaverde
Injury Notes: Brown, Luck, Gore, Watt, Jones, Lawrence
Here’s the latest on all the injuries to big names as training camps get underway across the league:
- There was a brief uproar earlier when it was mysteriously announced that Antonio Brown would start camp on the Raiders’ non-football injury list. However, the as of now undisclosed issue that caused Brown to be placed on the NFI was described to Field Yates of ESPN as “very minor” (Twitter link). Further, Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune tweets that the Raiders have known of the injury for two weeks, and that Brown will probably only miss a week of camp time. Despite the initial panic, it doesn’t sound like this is anything you need to monitor going forward.
- Andrew Luck was sidelined by a calf injury during the Colts’ offseason program, which sparked some concerns about his Achilles. However, Luck told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network today “my Achilles is not at extra risk of anything. It’s fine” (Twitter link). In a separate tweet, Pelissero notes Luck participated in team drills today, and that his limited workload has only been precautionary.
- Speaking of the NFI, Bills GM Brandon Beane said that running back Frank Gore has been removed from it, per longtime Bills beat reporter Joe Buscaglia (Twitter link). Gore had been dealing with a minor injury, but has passed his physical and is cleared to practice. Gore will be competing for carries in a crowded Buffalo backfield that also features LeSean McCoy and rookie Devin Singletary.
- J.J. Watt started camp on the Texans’ PUP list, but he’s now been removed and cleared to practice, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Watt was limited to just eight combined games in 2016 and 2017 due to injuries, but he played a full 16-game slate last year. Watt wasn’t the only Texan to get cleared, as James Palmer of NFL Network tweets that DeAndre Hopkins was also cleared and activated from PUP.
- Byron Jones, DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford and Noah Brown will start camp on the PUP list for the Cowboys, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com. Fortunately, Dallas is expecting all of them to be ready for the start of the season. Lawrence had offseason shoulder surgery, Jones had surgery on his hip, and Crawford is also dealing with a hip injury. Last we heard, there had been no progress in extension talks between the team and Jones.
AFC West Notes: Chargers, Gates, Chiefs, Hill
The Chargers have had private talks with Antonio Gates about his status, GM Tom Telesco tells reporters (Twitter link via Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com). Williams’ read on the comments is that Gates will not be back, which makes sense since we have not heard much about the 39-year-old in recent months.
The Chargers brought Gates back for a 16th season after losing Hunter Henry to a season-ending injury, but they no longer have a dire need for tight end help. Barring something unforeseen, it sounds like they’ll finally move on from the eight-time Pro Bowler.
Here’s more from the AFC West:
- There are ways the Chiefs could protect themselves in a potential new Tyreek Hill deal, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com writes. The Chiefs usually favor deals with substantial signing bonuses, but in this case, they could follow the 49ers’ team-friendly blueprint of bonuses that are metered out at specific dates. For example, they could advance the dates for injury guarantees, pack much of the compensation into annual per-game active roster bonuses, and broad language to shield against future incidents.
- Raiders fullback Keith Smith suffered a knee injury while training and will be out a few weeks to begin training camp, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. It’s possible they’ll sign another fullback as he recovers and Michael Gehlken of the Review-Journal (on Twitter) suggests that rookie Alec Ingold may push for a 53-man roster spot in his absence. Smith is due a $1.4MM salary in 2019 while Ingold is slated for just $495K.
- The Broncos ended their kicking competition this week while opening up a punting battle.
Packers Wanted Khalil Mack
In September, the Bears landed Khalil Mack in a trade that sent shockwaves throughout the football world. In an alternate universe, Mack could have ended up with their divisional rivals. In an interview with 105.7 The Fan Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy says he tried his best to land the All-Pro superstar. 
“Well the whole Khalil Mack thing. It’s not that we didn’t try,” Murphy said. “We were aggressive. We wanted to sign him. I think, ironically, the Raiders took the Bears offer because they thought they would be a better [2019 first round] draft pick.”
Ultimately, that was not the case – the Packers finished out with the No. 12 overall pick while the Raiders secured the Bears’ No. 24 overall choice in the deal. Still, hindsight is 20/20 and it’s possible that things could have played out differently if Mack was in Green Bay.
It’s an interesting what-if scenario, but Murphy isn’t necessarily losing sleep over it. After all, if the Packers landed Mack and gave him a monster extension in addition to Aaron Rodgers‘ huge contract, there wouldn’t have been much left for the other players on the roster.
“I don’t know if it is good to have the highest paid offensive player in the league, and the highest paid defensive player in the league,” Murphy said. “Is that a good way to build a team?”
After the Packers missed out on Mack, the edge rusher inked a six-year, $141MM extension with Chicago that includes $90MM guaranteed and $60MM at signing.