Las Vegas Raiders: 3 UDFAs most likely to the make 53-man roster

Las Vegas Raiders: 3 UDFAs most likely to the make 53-man roster

BYU Tight End Matt Bushman

Jon Gruden loves him some tight ends.  Yes, the Raiders already have a bunch of tight ends on the roster like Darren Waller, who some feel is the best tight end in the league, and Foster Moreau a promising young tight end.

In addition, they have Derek Carrier, a player who doesn’t contribute much on the field but does a lot in the locker room, and recently just signed a basketball player to play tight end in Carson Williams. For good measure, they even signed Nick O’Leary this offseason.

But if Matt Bushman is as good a pass catcher as many believe him to be, he of course has a chance to make this roster.

He only really needs to beat out Carrier, who is really just on this team as a veteran presence, but after going through the Jason Witten experiment last season, I’m a little tired of just having a player for that reason.  The main reason for Bushman going undrafted was that he suffered an Achilles injury before the start of the season and wasn’t able to contribute to the BYU offense last season or catch passes from eventual number two overall pick Zach Wilson, which would’ve made him a mid-round pick according to many draft pundits.

But that’s not the only reason he didn’t go undrafted, as although he is a good pass catcher, he’s not very strong at the point of attack, and will need to build up some muscle during the offseason.

He also doesn’t have to speed to separate very well, which causes him to have to make more contested catches, but when he does catch the ball, he catches it really well and that’s why he has a great chance of making this roster.  In his final season of college in 2019, Bushman had 47 receptions for 688 yards and four touchdowns, and if he had played in 2020, I believe he would’ve improved on those numbers as well.

Over his three-season career at BYU, Bushman had 125 receptions, 1,719 yards, and nine touchdowns