What Did We Learn from the Oakland Raiders’ Roster Cuts?

The Oakland Raiders were one of the last teams to announce the roster moves that would bring the team down to the league-mandated 53-man roster.

Once the moves were announced, there were very few surprises. One thing is certain: general manager Reggie McKenzie is far from done shaping the roster.

Even though the 53-man roster is likely to be much different when the Raiders face the Chargers a week from Monday, there's value in understanding where the Raiders could add players and what it means for the depth and rotations at certain key positions.

 

Seven Cornerbacks

The Raiders kept seven cornerbacks on the roster which was a mild surprise, but don't expect it to stay that way. Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer are the starters, but also making the squad were second-year players DeMarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa, veteran Pat Lee and kick returners Bryan McCann and Coye Francies.

The expectation would be that the Raiders would drop one or more of the cornerbacks in favor of a linebacker once they have time to comb through more than 600 players that were waived or terminated on Friday.



At least part of the reason the Raiders kept seven cornerbacks was because of poor special teams play this preseason. Francies and Lee are both good in return coverage, McCann and Francies can return kicks and McCann is also getting an opportunity to return punts. 

The Raiders were left scrambling to find a viable player to return kicks and punts when wide receiver Jacoby Ford injured his foot in the second preseason game. 

Safety Michael Huff has served as the team's nickel cornerback for most of the preseason, so it's also reasonable that the Raiders could be looking for a nickel cornerback that was cut on Friday. Joselio Hanson was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles and comes to mind as a veteran nickel cornerback that McKenzie could target.
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders