Latest On Raiders ST Competitions
The Raiders have Daniel Carlson locked in as their starting kicker, but the coaching staff has some tough decisions to make elsewhere on special teams. As Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes, the organization currently has competitions at both punter and long snapper.
The punter competition is between Johnny Townsend and rookie A.J. Cole. The 24-year-old Townsend is the incumbent after appearing in all 16 games for the Raiders in 2018. However, the Florida product struggled at times during his rookie campaign, and he ranked 30th in the NFL with a 38.3-yard net average. The Raiders ended up adding Cole as an undrafted free agent, but Gehlken notes that Townsend is still the favorite for the position.
“He’s really done a great job working on his hang time,” said special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. “That’s improved tremendously (over) the course of the year. Now, we’ve given up a little bit of direction to get his hang time where he’d like it to be, and hopefully we can get both — the hang and the direction — going into training camp.”
Meanwhile, veteran Andrew DePaola is the favorite at long snapper, although the 31-year-old missed the majority of last season with a torn ACL. The Raiders signed Trent Sieg to fill in, and the rookie ended up appearing in 15 games last year. While DePaola wasn’t able to get on the field with a rookie punter and rookie kicker, the veteran was still instrumental in their development.
“If we had any questions, we’d always ask him because he’s been through it a little more than we have,” Carlson said. “It was just huge for us last season to have that resource. It’s good to have him back and healthy and competing now again.”
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/19/19
Here are today’s decisions involving restricted free agents and exclusive-rights free agents:
ERFAs
Tendered:
- Raiders: LS Trent Sieg
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/12/18
Today’s minor moves:
Buffalo Bills
- Claimed off waivers: G Ike Boettger
- Waived: CB Ryan Lewis
Cincinnati Bengals
- Released from injured reserve: QB Matt Barkley
Denver Broncos
- Waived from injured reserve: OL J.J. Dielman
Detroit Lions
- Waived from injured reserve: RB Zach Zenner
New Orleans Saints
- Re-signed: OL Jermon Bushrod
- Released: OL Michael Ola
New York Jets
- Reinstated from suspension: LB Kevin Pierre-Louis
- Waived: G Ben Braden
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: LS Trent Sieg
- Waived: DE Shilique Calhoun, WR Keon Hatcher
- Placed on injured reserve: LS Andrew DePaola
San Francisco 49ers
- Promoted from practice squad: LB Najee Toran
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Brock Coyle
- Waived from injured reserve: WR Aaron Burbridge
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Re-signed: DE Will Clarke
Washington Redskins
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Jehu Chesson
Ravens Begin To Trim Roster
The Ravens have initiated the process of moving their roster to 53 players by announcing several transactions today. Baltimore’s roster now stands at 72 players following these moves:
Waived:
- DB Robertson Daniel
- OL Andrew Donnal
- OL Justin Evans
- TE Nick Keizer
- DE Christian LaCouture
- S Kai Nacua
- CB Jackson Porter
- WR DeVier Posey
- LS Trent Sieg
Waived/injured:
- LB Alvin Jones
Placed on injured reserve:
Placed on reserve/PUP (minimum six-game absence):
- WR Quincy Adeboyejo
- LB Bam Bradley
- CB Jaylen Hill
Ravens Sign 15 UDFAs
The Ravens have signed 15 undrafted free agents. Here’s the complete list:
- Jaelon Acklin, WR (Western Illinois)
- Randin Crecelius, OL (Portland State)
- Gus Edwards, RB (Rutgers
- Justin Evans, G (South Carolina State)
- Nick Keizer, TE (Grand Valley State)
- Andre Levrone, WR (Virginia)
- Mason McKendrick, LB (John Carroll)
- Christian LaCouture, DL (LSU)
- Alvin Jones, LB (UTEP)
- Trent Sieg, LS (Colorado State)
- Mark Thompson, RB (Florida)
- Alex Thompson, C (Monmouth)
- De’Lance Turner, RB (Alcorn State)
- Kaare Vedvik, P (Marshall)
- Darious Williams, DB (UAB)
Jones started 43 games at UTEP and tallied 40 tackles for a loss over the course of his NFL career. That’s a pretty solid showing for someone who played quarterback in high school and was initially recruited to UTEP as a safety.
Five Florida Gators were drafted last week, but Thompson did not hear his name called. The talented running back will now get his opportunity to go from the Ravens’ 90-man offseason roster to their 53-man roster in the fall. In a limited sample of work, he averaged 5.1 yards per carry as a senior, though ball security was an issue for him at UF. He’ll have to keep the fumbles to a minimum this offseason as the team already has four running backs on the roster in Alex Collins, Javorius Allen, John Crockett, and Kenneth Dixon plus two other UDFA RBs in Edwards and Turner.