Jul 30, 2013; Napa, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive players Tyvon Branch (33) , Jon Condo (59) and Omar Gaither (52) participate in warmup drills at training camp at Napa Valley Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Believe it or not, the Oakland Raiders are just 9 days away from reporting to Training Camp in Napa, CA. With Training Camp just over a week away, I was looking at the Raiders roster to see if I could identify who I thought would be the most interesting and biggest position battles. To be completely honest, it was extremely difficult. Several positions are going to have tough battles, and there aren’t going to be that many roster positions left. Good players are going to get cut and lost, which means the best should survive.
In 2013, the Oakland Raiders 53-man roster was broken down like this:
2-QB’s/ 3-RB’s/ 2-FB’s/ 6-WR’s/ 3-TE’s/ 5-T’s/ 4-G’s/ 1-C/ 4-DE’s/ 5-DT’s/ 6-LB’s/ 6-CB’s/ 3-S’s/ LS/ K/ P
There were 8 players on the Reserve List and 7 Practice Squad players. Currently, there are 90 players on the roster headed into Training Camp. Injuries can play a big part in keeping or letting a player go, and the unfortunate side of football is that injuries are inevitable. The good news is the amount of depth available at most positions coupled with talent.
While compiling this list I left out the positions that will be losing the least amount of players based off of last years roster. Of course this isn’t set in stone and anything can happen between now and September, but it gives Raider Nation a little insight as to where their favorite players might rank. The positions I left out were that of QB, RB, FB, S’s, and WR’s. If you look at those positions as a whole, you can almost decide who will be on the roster and who will be moving on. The toughest of the 5 positions left off were the WR’s. That would be #6 on my list of camp battles to watch, because there are 5 names almost assured a roster spot. So here is my top 5 biggest Training Camp battles for 2014: