Life comes at you fast in the NFL. With the Las Vegas Raiders’ first preseason game now firmly in the rearview mirror, the roster is now taking shape. The team trimmed its players down to 85 this week.
No Big Names
With only five players to cut, the Raiders were not going to rid themselves of any big names. As such these first cuts included players who mostly live at the bottom of the roster. On offense, the Raiders cut quarterback Case Cookus, wide receiver Caleb Scott, and running back Bo Scarbrough. The recently added quarterback did not play until very late during Saturday’s game and will not be needed with Marcus Mariota healthy. It also applies to Scott who finished with no catches in the first exhibition game. Scarbrough, formerly of Alabama, was just recently added but does not have the juice to hang around on NFL rosters for much longer.
On the defensive/special teams side, De’Vante Bausby and Ethan Westbrooks were always gonna have a hard time surviving this round of cuts. Neither player had an impact in the game this past weekend. In addition, both were buried within their positions on the depth chart. On special teams, kicker Dominik Eberle and LS Liam McCullough were released as well.
No time to rest
With plenty of options available, the Raiders had to get down to 85 players by Tuesday. As mentioned, this round of cuts included players who had no shot of cracking the 53 man roster. Similarly, they will have to trim five more players at the end of next week. The NFL is a cruel business and it truly never stops. However, as is the case with most things the Raiders do, don’t be surprised if they throw us a curveball at some point in this offseason.
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*Top Photo: Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal
