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Report: Sio Moore wasn’t going to make Raiders roster

By Chase Ruttig

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The run of popular outside linebacker Sio Moore with the Oakland Raiders came to an end on the weekend, reaching a dramatic conclusion as the team’s new coaching staff’s falling out with Moore ended with the linebacker being traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a late round pick. A trade that didn’t surprise many after weeks of speculation and comments in the media from head coach Jack Del Rio about Moore’s status with the team, but one that was questioned as the team gave up on a player with the talent to start on the defense even after returning from hip surgery.

With the fallout from Moore’s trade away from Oakland, Del Rio commented on the situation following the team’s first regular season practice on Sunday. The head coach putting the final words on a saga that has grabbed the majority of headlines as the Raiders head into preparations for their first game of the 2015 season on Sunday.

Del Rio was blunt in his comments about Moore, stating that he wouldn’t have made the roster if he wasn’t traded, which in turn led to the decision from Reggie McKenzie to find a trading partner to get something in return for the 2013 third rounder. The head coach claiming that the depth added at the position changed Moore’s status with the team drastically.

“He wasn’t going to make our team,” Del Rio said during his press conference on Sunday. “We had depth there that we’re really happy about.”

Del Rio noted that the addition of former Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith and the emergence of Ray-Ray Armstrong were difference makers in the shakeup at outside linebacker. Adding that he is excited about the overall depth at the linebacker position where McKenzie made several additions over the offseason through free agency and the draft to give the head coach depth that he is excited about going forward.

“We brought in two free agent linebackers that are both playing really well,” Del Rio said. “We brought in two draft picks that are both playing pretty well. We developed a guy at the position that’s returning in Ray-Ray [Armstrong] and we added a guy that we think is a real core difference maker on special teams (in Lorenzo Alexander).

“We’ve got a full group. It was an opportunity to acquire a pick for a guy that somebody else may want to have.”

It still remains unlikely that Moore’s talent was what lost him his place in Oakland, but Del Rio doesn’t seem too concerned to be giving up on a player who the fans and a large portion of the media still feel could have been a difference maker for the Raiders over the last two years of his rookie contract. The play of the linebackers in 2015 will determine if the Moore trade was a mistake or not, but the Raiders head coach is confident that the depth at the position will prevent the team from missing a player who the coaches felt wasn’t worthy of a spot on the 53 man roster following the end of the preseason.

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