The Las Vegas Raiders have a much better roster now than they did this time a year ago. Then, we weren't really sure what this team was, as there were a lot of unknowns surrounding the fact that there were rookies everywhere you looked, even on the coaching staff, as this is Antonio Pierce's official rookie coaching season.
After making some trades and big signings, the Raiders are firmly positioned to contend for the playoffs. But, there are still some holes on their roster. Sure, the roster they have now will widely be the one they go into Week 1 with, but there are areas they could add players to.
With training camp getting closer and closer, teams will eventually start to release players, as they have to get their roster from 90 players down to 53 by Week 1. This means some solid players could get cut. We call these guys surprise-cut candidates.
Every team has them, but, just because a player gets cut, doesn't mean they can't be good or of value to another team. So, with that, here are three surprising cut candidates from other teams that the Raiders should sign to help them get to the playoffs:
Surprise cut candidates Raiders should sign
Cleveland Browns DT Siaki Ika
The Raiders brought back John Jenkins and Adam Butler to play alongside Christian Wilkins, but the raw truth is that those two guys may not be enough, and at that second defensive tackle position, they have no long-term solution. They cannot sign veterans to one-year deals every year, so why not grab a guy from the 2023 draft class who they can develop while those one-year veterans are on the squad?
Cleveland was terrible at stopping the run in 2022 so they went out and refined the interior of the defensive line in 2023. It paid off for them but one guy that was supposed to come in and be an eventual run plugger was Ika, who was just unable to do that. Ika was a healthy scratch for most of the season until Maurice Hurst went down with an injury, then was not very good in limited playing time. Ika played 100 defensive snaps and did not record a single statistic for Cleveland. He was very heavy coming into the NFL and tested poorly athletically at the combine. If Ika is being blown off the ball during training camp like he was last season, Cleveland could move on after a year. - Browns beat writer Brandon Little
Philadelphia Eagles CB James Bradberry
It's very obvious that the biggest hole in the Raiders is their cornerback room, where we really don't know what the Raiders have. We think we know what Jack Jones is, but he's a guy who has yet to play a full season in his career. Then, they have some young guys like Jakorian Bennett and Decamerion Richardson who we still aren't sure about. Why not add another veteran to that group who was considered one of the best in the game just two years ago?
The Eagles didn’t hesitate to draft back-to-back corners in the 2024 NFL Draft Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean . Now they have 15 of them heading into July training camp. That’s an obvious sign that the Eagles have little to no faith in Bradberry, who struggled last year. If he doesn’t have an eye-popping training camp and beat out these rookies, then don’t be surprised if the Eagles might let him go, even if it means eating some money. - Eagles beat writer Kelsey Kramer
Jacksonville Jaguars S Andrew Wingard
The Raiders do not have the best depth at the safety position. Sure, their two starters are great in Marcus Epps and Tre'Von Moehrig, but if one of those two were to get hurt, the Raiders do not have anyone they may feel comfortable enough to run things.
Andrew Wingard has been with the Jaguars since 2019 and has started 26 of the 78 games he's appeared in. Outside of 2021 when he started 15 games for the team he has mainly been a special teams contributor. And this year's safety group is arguably deeper than any room Wingard has been a part of. The team is likely going to start Andre Cisco and Antonio Johnson, but they also signed veteran Terrell Edmonds. And don't forget about Darnell Savage who the team could play at slot CB or safety depending on the defensive package. If Wingard doesn't impress in training camp this could variably be the end of the road for this Jaguars veteran.- Jags contributor Destin Adams
Now, some of these players could end up not even getting cut. However, if they do get cut, they are perfect for the Raiders to target heading into 2024.
Related: Antonio Pierce is already making Raiders' history
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