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Las Vegas Raiders' initial 53-man roster: Fan favorite UDFAs and day three rookies make the cut

By Justin Churchill,

7 hours ago

The Las Vegas Raiders, and every other NFL team, are getting closer or have already finalized their 53-man roster for the 2024 season. Teams must get from 90 players to 53 by 1 PM Pacific Time on Tuesday. The Raiders started on Monday by waiving some players who could come back on the practice squad and then picked it up on Tuesday.

The Raiders' first big cut was quarterback Nathan Peterman, a guy who already knew the Luke Getsy offense from his days with the Chicago Bears. They picked it up from there and began trimming the roster.

Now, they have their roster in place, but first, we should probably go over some very important details that you need to know about cutting and waiving players.

2024 NFL roster cuts important details:

Unlike the past few years, the NFL has reverted from gradual roster cuts throughout the preseason to a single deadline. Rosters must be reduced to 53 players virtually all at once. The team has several different transactions they can use to make that happen. Here are the terms you need to familiarize yourself with:

Released: When a vested veteran (those who have accrued four seasons in the NFL) is cut from a team. These players are not required to pass through waivers and can immediately become unrestricted free agents. Sometimes that means they'll sign with another team. Other times, teams can release these veterans and re-sign them after they've placed other players on injured reserve.
Waived: Players who have not accrued four seasons in the NFL are waived instead of being released. 31 NFL teams will have a chance to claim waived players on their 53-man roster by 11:00 a.m. CT on August 28. If players are not claimed on waivers, they become unrestricted free agents. Waiver priority this time of year is determined by team records from the previous season. The team with the worst record will get the top waiver priority, in this case, the C arolina Panthers. The Kansas City Chiefs will have the lowest waiver priority as Super Bowl LVIII champions.
Waived/injured: If these players clear waivers they will revert to the Raiders’ injured reserve list. They can opt to spend the season with Las Vegas on IR or reach an injury settlement with the team, which will pay them for the number of weeks they'll miss with injury and make them an unrestricted free agent. Players who opt for the latter route can rejoin the team later in the season after they're healthy.
Injured reserve: Up until this year, a player had to make the initial 53-man roster to be placed on IR and be eligible to return later in the season. Now, up to two players can be placed on IR on the day of final cuts (Tuesday) and be designated to return. Teams still have the option to carry injured players on the 53-man roster and some good reasons to do so. First, if a player is placed on IR, he is forced to miss at least four games. Second, if a player makes the initial 53 and is placed on IR on the following day, there are eight designations to return from IR — and another two for playoff teams.

Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list: Players on the Active/PUP list can be placed on the Reserve/PUP list in a move to get the roster down to 53 players. Players who are moved to the Reserve/PUP list do not count against the 53-man roster. They can attend team meetings, and use team facilities for rehab, but are not allowed to practice for four weeks. After four weeks, another 21-day window opens up, where the player can practice and be activated. If they’re not activated in those 21 days, they must be placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
Reserve/Non-football injury/illness (NFI) lists : Players placed on either Reserve/NFI lists have to go through the same process as players on the Reserve/PUP list. They do not count toward the 53-man roster. They can go to team meetings and use facilities for rehab, but they’re not allowed to participate in practice for four weeks. After that, a four-week period opens where they can return to practice and the team can choose to activate the player. If the player isn’t activated at the end of the second four-week period, they’ll remain on injured reserve for the rest of the season. The big difference between the NFI and PUP lists is that teams can withhold a portion of a player’s salary if they’re placed on the NFI lists.
Reserve/Suspended list: Players who are placed on the Reserve/Suspended list have to serve out an NFL suspension. Players on this list do not count toward 53-man roster limits and are not paid their base salary.
Reserve/Did Not Report list: Players who are placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list have left their team.
Reserve/Retired list: Players who are placed on this list have retired from the NFL. This is a pretty rare transaction that you typically wouldn't see in a move to get to 53 players.

Without further ado, here is the Raiders' initial 53-man roster to start the 2024 season, which can change.

Raiders' initial 53-man roster

Quarterback (2)

Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell

The Raiders named Minshew the starter on Sunday, the day after he and O'Connell played pretty bad against the Cowboys . So, those two are locks because of the battle for the QB1 spot. As for the QB3, the Raiders are bringing in Peterman because he knows the offense already due to his stint with Getsy on the Chicago Bears. However, Peterman is a practice squad quarterback, and no one is clamoring to sign him, so, they will just send him to the practice squad. He was one of the early guys who was cut along with Carter Bradley.

Running backs (4)

Zamir White, Alexander Mattison, Ameer Abdullah, Dylan Laube

The Raiders drafted Laube this offseason to try and see what he could do, whether it be as a running back or on special teams, and so far, he has shown some pretty good flashes. They like Abdullah as a third-down back if anything goes wrong, and his experience in a fairly young RB room is great, too. After the showings of the other backs though, in Brittain Brown and Sincer McCormick, this decision will be tough.

Wide Receivers (6)

Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, DJ Turner, Ramel Keyton, Tyreik McAllister

The Raiders don't have quite as deep of a wide receiver room as they had last season, but, they obviously feel like it's good enough going into the 2024 season. I'm sure having the duo of Adams and Meyers help, and Turner has shown some great flashes this offseason as well.

McAllister had his own game on Friday night, as he had a punt return for a touchdown, and an impressive touchdown catch where he skied for the ball, came down, and ran into the end zone after missing the defenders.

Tight Ends (3)

Brock Bowers, Michael Mayer, Harrison Bryant

The Raiders have one of the best, young groups of tight ends in the league. The two starters are obvious, and Harrison Bryant got the snaps with the backups, whole the other tight ends had the snaps with the backups to the backups, so it makes sense.

Offensive Line (9)

Kolton Miller (LT), Jackson Powers-Johnson (OG), Andre James (C), Dylan Parham (OG), Thayer Munford Jr. (OT), Jordan Meredith (OG), Andrus Peat (OL), Cody Whitehair (OG), Delmar Glaze (OL)

The Raiders have a pretty good offensive line when it's all put together. But, when you look at their depth, it's shaky. However, I'd say there aren't really any battles that are surprising. You pretty much know the guys that will make the roster from this group. This group was pretty standard, and we really didn't need to see many get cut from this position group to know what was going to happen.

Defensive Line (9)

Maxx Crosby (DE), Christian Wilkins (DT), John Jenkins (DT), Malcolm Koonce (DE), Tyree Wilson (DE), Janarius Robinson (DE), Adam Butler (DT), Nesta Jade Silvera (DT), Byron Young (DT)

The Raiders now have one of the best, if not the best, defensive lines in the league. But, a large part of that is also because of the depth and experience they have. With Snowden being released early on in the process, it was a shock to many, as he played well this preseason. From there, there were only a few directions the team could go.

Linebackers (7)

Divine Deablo, Robert Spillane, Luke Masterson, Tommy Eichenberg, Amari Gainer, Amari Burney, Kana'i Mauga

The starters make sense, but the best part of the week was when Amari Gainer found out he made the cut. As for the others, they are great pieces that will be used this season as depth pieces and special teams players.

Cornerbacks (6)

Jack Jones, Nate Hobbs, Jakorian Bennett, Decamerion Richardson, MJ Devonshire, Brandon Facyson

The Raiders like how the starting secondary played. Woo Governor was a guy that I had making the roster , and he unfortunately did not. He won't last long on waivers.

Safeties (4)

Trevon Moehrig, Marcus Epps, Isaiah Pola-Mao, Christopher Smith

We didn't have to wait all day Wednesday to know that Epps and Moehrig were going to be on the 53. Pola-Mao was a guy we suspected, and Trey Taylor is a rookie that was selected in the draft, so, once he is healthy we could see him elevated.

Special Teams (3)

Daniel Carlson (K), AJ Cole (P), Jacob Bobenmoyer (LS)

The Raiders, to me, have the best specialists in the league. This has been the starting group for this unit for a while now, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.