Las Vegas Raiders: Takeaways from the 2022 preseason and looking ahead

Las Vegas Raiders: Takeaways from the 2022 preseason and looking ahead

Exciting young practice squad players to keep an eye on

Austin Walter

Through the first two preseason games, Walter may have very well been the best player for the Raiders. The former Jet was making defenders miss like it was nobody’s business, totaling a team-high 82 rushing yards in this timeframe.

Walter also got into the end zone against the Jaguars.

It isn’t that the latter half of this year’s preseason wasn’t kind to him, but rather seventh-round pick Brittain Brown took over, leaving the scraps for Walter. After carrying the ball 15 times during the first half of the preseason, Walter finished the second half with just 8.

Brown ended up making the 53-man roster, as did Josh Jacobs, Ameer Abdullah, and Brandon Bolden, leaving Walter to join the Raiders practice squad. He proved his worth this summer, and if someone goes down due to injury, you likely will see him on the active roster at some point.

Chase Garbers

Rostering only two quarterbacks is a common practice now. If you want proof, look no further than the Patriots, where Josh McDaniels coached from ’12 to ’21. During these years, only twice did New England open the regular season with more than 2 quarterbacks. Even with rookie Mac Jones at the helm in 2021, the Pats began the regular season with 2 active QBs.

However, Chase Garbers showed during the preseason that he has a legitimate future in the NFL, and will learn a lot in his first season on the practice squad. Derek Carr is entrenched as the starter for the Silver and Black, and rightfully so, while Jarrett Stidham was outstanding this summer, and earned the QB2 job.

In Garbers, Las Vegas now has a young quarterback they can groom within the system, and who knows, maybe he gets his chance to be a starter somewhere else down the line.