Las Vegas Raiders: Why keeping Nathan Peterman makes no sense
The Las Vegas Raiders kept Nathan Peterman on the 53-man roster in a move that makes no sense if this team wants to win now.
Is there really a reason for the Las Vegas Raiders to keep Nathan Peterman on the roster?
Normally, teams will only keep two quarterbacks on the roster at one time, and if an injury befalls a starter, then a third quarterback is brought into the backup’s backup. So, this begs the question: why do Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders keep three quarterbacks on their roster at all times?
And why is one of those quarterbacks, Peterman?
Nathan Peterman has never been that good of a quarterback. In fact, he’s been so mediocre that he is often the butt of a lot of jokes on social media. In eight games with the Buffalo Bills, Peterman had a 52.3% completion percentage, 548 yards, three touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. Very few, if any, quarterbacks in the NFL have numbers this poor.
Even in the preseason, Peterman wasn’t great. He was solid, for sure, but not great. In the preseason, he had a 68.5% completion percentage, 553 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 80 rushing yards.
He also threw four interceptions, though. So, like was stated, solid but not great.
Yet, Gruden still keeps him on the roster, and the reason seems to be that Gruden just has some type of unexplainable love for Peterman. Maybe Gruden just likes the type of guy that Peterman is. Even though he has had his struggles, he never seems to quit or fall victim to the criticism he receives.
Or maybe sees some type of untapped potential in Peterman, and he believes that he can trust Peterman’s talents if he ever has to use him in an actual game.
Most likely though, Gruden loves Peterman’s football IQ and the type of awareness he brings to the game. On the sidelines, Peterman can often be seen wearing a headset and holding a play sheet, likely communicating with Carr and Gruden on plays.
So perhaps, Peterman sticks around to work as another voice on offensive plays.
But is this really a reason to keep him and take up a roster spot? When you have plenty of coaches and a starting quarterback who knows the offense inside and out, no not really. That roster spot that Peterman holds could be used to keep around an extra defensive back, offensive lineman, or defensive lineman, as those are all positions where an injury is exceptionally frequent.
It could also be used to support the depleted linebacking core that was hit with the injuries of Javin White and Nicholas Morrow.
Now, if Las Vegas needed a backup quarterback, then this would be a completely different story. In fact, this whole argument would be irrelevant. But they already have a great backup, one of the best in the league, in Marcus Mariota.
Mariota did a good job taking over for Carr last year when he suffered the groin injury. And even though he only played in one game, Mariota showed that he more than has the talents needed to fill in at quarterback if Carr ever gets hurt again. So, keeping Peterman around as a backup really makes no sense, as he would most likely never play if Carr got hurt.
Keeping Peterman really doesn’t make a ton of sense. Even though he has a great football IQ and never seems to give up on himself, his roster spot could be better used for someone the team actually needs. And, if Carr did get hurt, they could always bring Peterman back on the roster to be Mariota’s backup because few teams would be considering signing him.
Instead of using common sense, and just keeping two quarterbacks, thanks to the talent of the top two guys on the depth chart, Peterman was once again named to the Raiders’ initial 53-man roster. That could end up being a big mistake, especially with so many talented players hitting the waiver wire after being cut.