2022 Raiders free agency: Recapping an exciting Day 1 of the new league year
The Las Vegas Raiders not only added. but also subtracted.
In addition to all the new faces Las Vegas brought in, they also waved goodbye to two old friends; Defensive end Carl Nassib, and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski.
Signing with the Raiders in 2020, Nick Kwiatkoski ended the season as the best linebacker on the team. The former Bear broke up four passes, forced a fumble, recorded a sack, and even scored an interception. Unfortunately for the linebacker, there was a defensive coordinator change following the end of the ’20 season, and Kwiatkoski was no longer in the cards.
As if the emergence of rookie slot-corner Nate Hobbs wasn’t enough to keep Kwiatkoski off the field, the Raiders also signed KJ Wright, who took over as the third-linebacker in the rare three linebacker sets. New defensive coordinator Gus Bradley also traded for his old friend Denzel Perryman, who took over the middle-linebacker job.
Nassib recorded 4 sacks in his time with Vegas, as well as batting down 5 balls at the line of scrimmage. His most memorable play was a fourth-quarter interception against the Broncos, where the defensive end did his best impersonation of Marshawn Lynch, refusing to go down.
Nassib’s cut is designated as a post-June-1st cut, When June comes around, the Raiders will get +$8 million from Nassib’s release, as well as +$11.75 million from the Littleton cut.