Dealing with yet another injury during training camp may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Oakland Raiders DT Eddie Vanderdoes.
Unfortunately in the NFL, players’ opportunities come and go in the bat of an eye, and for one Oakland Raiders defensive tackle, he may be running out of them. Due to circumstances that are essentially out of his control, Eddie Vanderdoes’ time with the Raiders may soon come to an end as his chances of making the 53-man roster are diminishing by the day.
The UCLA product has missed the last two days of camp (Monday and Tuesday) with a concussion. With the competition on the defensive line getting tougher and tougher with guys like Maurice Hurst, P.J. Hall, and Justin Ellis there, Vanderdoes may find himself out the door before too much longer.
This isn’t the first rough break that has plagued Vanderdoes. After an impressive rookie season, he tore his ACL in Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers, causing him to miss the entirety of the 2018 season.
Now dealing with the concussion, Vanderdoes can’t catch a break on the injury front. To make matters worse, Vanderdoes is a player that the old regime brought in. He was not hand selected by Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock, rather was a member of Reggie McKenzie‘s last draft before Gruden. Not being a member of the current regime’s recruits means the leash is shorter and tighter.
There is a difference between Vanderdoes and Ronald Ollie, who was cut earlier this week, as Vanderdoes is a third round draft pick and Ollie was an undrafted free agent. But the precedent is there, Gruden isn’t afraid to shake things up and cut players who aren’t doing anything to help the team. As the saying goes, the best ability is availability, and that is something Vanderdoes has lacked over the last year plus now.
Unless this concussion is minor and Vanderdoes shows out for the remainder of camp and plays well in the preseason, there is a real possibility that he finds himself on the outside looking in once the final 53-man roster is released.