3 Free agents Las Vegas Raiders could still sign in August
By Randy Gurzi
Three free agent players the Las Vegas Raiders could still sign in August.
There’s been no shortage of roster overhaul since Jon Gruden took over for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2018. Still in Oakland at the time of his second arrival, Gruden ended a 10-year run in the ESPN Monday Night Football booth and signed a 10-year contract with the Raiders. He then proceeded to tear things down and try to rebuild the once-proud franchise.
Gruden traded away two former top-five picks as he sent edge rusher Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears and wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock were relentlessly destroyed for those moves but the fact is, they weren’t winning games with those stars so they felt it was best to get more draft capital and have the extra flexibility in the salary cap.
As for the draft capital, the Raiders have added a lot of talent — even if we don’t know how well they all will pan out just yet. First-round picks Clelin Ferrell and Jonathan Abram are still question marks but Josh Jacobs was a very solid running back for them as a rookie last season. This season, they added two more first-round picks and while Henry Ruggs and Damon Arnette look the part, they need to put the work in on the field before we can completely buy-in.
In addition to the draft picks, there’s the extra cap room that Gruden and Mayock created when they elected not to re-sign Cooper and Mack. So far, they haven’t gone crazy with that as they have made modest signings with players such as Jason Witten, Jeff Heath, Maliek Collins and Damarious Randall coming in this offseason.
Having said all that, the Raiders look much better on paper than they have in recent seasons. But that doesn’t mean they can’t still improve by targeting one of these three veterans who are still on the market as training camps are underway in August.