Several of these players will be invited to stick around on Las Vegas’ practice squad, with the NFL greenlighting a second year of 16-man taxi squads. The Raiders’ cutting Brown and Doss keeps Willie Snead and Zay Jones on their active roster. Johnson played a part-time role on the Raiders’ defense last season, while Carrier has been with the team for the past four years. The Raiders re-signed him in March. Wreh-Wilson was aiming to catch on for a ninth NFL season, and while the former Titans and Falcons cornerback may do so, the Raiders halted his effort to land on their initial 53-man roster.
September 7th, 2020 at 6:35pm CST by Zachary Links
The Raiders have placed quarterback Marcus Mariota on injured reserve, per a club announcement. For added insurance, the club has added one-time Notre Dame star DeShone Kizer to the Raiders’ practice squad.
Mariota’s strained pectoral muscle will keep him out for at least three weeks, per the league’s modified rules for 2020. Without him, the Raiders are rolling with two QBs on the active roster – Derek Carr and Nathan Peterman. Mariota’s temporary absence may take a little bit of pressure off of Derek Carr, who has certainly heard the footsteps. Mariota, who was leapfrogged by Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee, finished the year with a career-low 59.4% completion rate and just 1,203 yards.
Kizer has been on the workout trail ever since he was cut by the club in May, but those tryouts didn’t land him a deal. Now, the 2017 second-round pick will stick around in Las Vegas as he waits for his next opportunity. Kizer, 24, has made 18 appearances over the course of his NFL career, most of which came during the Browns’ winless season. All in all, he’s got eleven touchdowns against 24 interceptions.
Here’s the full rundown of the Raiders’ practice squad after Monday’s move:
September 8th, 2019 at 7:14pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
Keelan Doss is headed back to Oakland after all. Doss became a breakout star on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’, but was released by the Raiders at final cuts and ended up signing to the Jaguars’ practice squad.
When the Raiders cut Antonio Brown, they tried to sign Doss back. Jacksonville then agreed to pay him a rookie minimum salary while on the practice squad in order to keep him. But now the Raiders have upped their offer to something he simply couldn’t refuse, and Doss is signing back with the team, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). To lure him back, Oakland is giving Doss a whopping $300K signing bonus and $495K fully guaranteed base salary.
It’s a massive step-up for Doss. In just a couple of days, he went from making a non-guaranteed practice squad salary to getting $795K guaranteed. Giving a player a multi-hundred thousand dollar signing bonus to come off another team’s practice squad is nearly unprecedented, and shows how badly the Raiders wanted receiver help after Brown’s departure.
Doss is an undrafted rookie from UC Davis. A native of the Bay Area, he’ll be completing a homecoming that was widely documented on the popular HBO series. Doss shined at times during the preseason, and set school records for touchdowns and all-purpose yards.
One of the crazier sagas in modern NFL history concluded Saturday. The Raiders releasedAntonio Brown after voiding his guarantees, setting themselves up for another potential decision on Brown requiring an arbitrator. Jon Gruden addressed the decision, which came a day after he said Brown would play in Week 1 against the Broncos.
“We just have exhausted everything,” Gruden said. “We tried every way possible to make it work. And all I’m gonna say is it’s disappointing. We did everything we could to make this work. I’m sorry it didn’t. I apologize, but I’ll tell you, I’m very proud of what we did as an organization to try. I wish Antonio the best. I’m sorry we never got a chance to see him in silver and black. … I just don’t think it worked. It didn’t fit here.”
Brown did not completely morph into the polarizing figure he now is until Week 17 of last season, a sequence that began his Pittsburgh exit. A 2012 date sticks with some Steelers figures, however. A day after Brown received the first of his two Steelers extensions (July 28, 2012), he engaged in a heated exchange with Steelers defenders and then-DC Dick LeBeau at a training camp practice, Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com notes. Another component in the Brown saga, per Robinson: Steelers owner Dan Rooney‘s death. The late owner was a Brown supporter, and Robinson adds Brown “took it hard” when the organization prioritized Ben Roethlisberger over him. This is a bit strange because the Steelers did not give Big Ben his latest extension until Brown forced his way out, though the team did back Roethlisberger after Brown’s Week 17 became an amazing run of drama.
Drew Rosenhaus mentioned this Brown saga indeed could become a legal situation, regarding the released wideout’s $29MM-plus in guarantees, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). “We’ll do what’s best for Antonio. We will speak with the NFLPA,” Rosenhaus said, via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (Twitter link). While the Raiders no longer employ Brown, their part in this process does not look to be over. If Brown were to win a grievance, the Raiders could be tagged with $29.125MM in dead money, ex-GM Mike Tannenbaum tweets. The Steelers are already eating $21.12MM in 2019 dead cap charges.
Interestingly, the Raiders tried to bring Doss back after releasing Brown. But the Jaguars moved to give the rookie UDFA a full veteran-minimum salary to keep him, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com reports (video link). Doss will become by far Jacksonville’s highest-paid practice squad player, making an active-roster minimum of $495K. The practice squad minimum is $8K per week.
Any team that signs Brown will guarantee 25% of his 2019 salary, per OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald (on Twitter), because of termination pay rules. However, if one of the other three teams playing on Monday night — the Texans, Saints or Broncos — sign Brown before their respective games (extremely unlikely), Brown’s salary would be fully guaranteed.
Count the Saints out, however, with Sean Payton quickly indicating (via NOLA.com’s Herbie Teope, on Twitter) his team will not pursue the volatile All-Pro. This figures to be a theme, but there will certainly be teams that investigate this situation for a possible free agent signing.
The Raiders have made their slew of cuts. They placed defensive tackle Justin Ellis on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss the entire season. After starting 14 games in 2017, Oakland signed Ellis to a three-year, $15MM extension. Injuries limited him to just six games last season, so he’ll have barely played through the first two years of that extension.
Former Rams defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks also got the boot. He started nine games for Los Angeles in 2017 and racked up four sacks. Last year he had a smaller role, although he did appear in all 16 games for the Rams. ‘Hard Knocks’ star Keelan Doss unfortunately failed to make the roster. He’s an undrafted rookie receiver from UC Davis. Additionally Keith Smith, who served as the team’s fullback last season, was released.
