Las Vegas Raiders need to make a decision quickly on Marcus Mariota

The Las Vegas Raiders still need to upgrade their roster and find cap space to do so, as the team needs to make a decision quickly on Marcus Mariota.

As the Las Vegas Raiders head into April, there are still pressing needs on both sides of the ball. The Raiders have to figure out what they want to do at right tackle, and in the secondary, the Silver and Black still need to add talent to a group that has wildly underperformed in recent years.

Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden have to figure that out despite the fact they only have a small amount of money left under the cap and do not hold multiple first-round picks like they did the last two years. One way they can get some money is to release Marcus Mariota, a move that needs to be done sooner than later.

Raiders cannot afford to keep Mariota in 2021

The Las Vegas Raiders have done a nice job revamping their roster this offseason, getting guys to sign on the dotted line for mostly cheap contracts, outside of Kenyan Drake. Still, they have a lot of work to do, and with very little cap space to do it with, they have to make a decision quickly.

The Raiders have already asked Mariota to take a pay cut to no avail, and with a cap number over $10 million, the team just cannot afford to keep him on staff for another season. Sure, he played well in the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers late in the season, but this franchise has paid him a lot of money to basically watch Derek Carr play football.

It makes no sense to continue to employ Mariota under the current terms of his contract, and we have seen that Carr just does not miss games as the team’s starting quarterback. Yes, it is nice to have a security blanket behind your starter, but when it limits your ability to actually improve the roster in areas where guys actually play on the field, it is a liability.