John Spytek and the front office are constantly fiddling with the Las Vegas Raiders' 53-man roster. But after Thursday's claiming of guard Bryce Cabeldue, the team was set ahead of Week 1's game against the Miami Dolphins to begin the 2025 NFL season. Only the inactives remained a mystery.
But the Raiders, as is protocol, announced who won't be suiting up on Sunday just 90 minutes before the game (with the exception of the emergency third quarterback). While several of these were expected, the Silver and Black also included a surprise: not activating linebacker Cody Lindenberg.
Here's the full list:
QB Aidan O'Connell (Emergency 3rd QB)
TE Brock Bowers
LB Cody Lindenberg
SAF Dalton Johnson
DT JJ Pegues
CB Darrell Luter Jr.
IOL Bryce Cabeldue
Let's dive into what all of this means.
Las Vegas Raiders' full inactives list in Week 1 vs. Miami Dolphins
First and foremost, the exclusion of Lindenberg comes as a complete shock. By all accounts, he was set to be the Raiders' third linebacker behind Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean, ahead of Segun Olubi and Tommy Eichenberg. Unless a last-minute injury occurred, Lindenberg was a healthy scratch.
Throughout the offseason program, Lindenberg started in place of an absent Dean, and he played much more on defense than Eichenberg or Olubi did during the preseason. Perhaps that was a bad sign for Lindenberg, but he got the start when the 1s were out in Week 2. It doesn't make sense.
Lindenberg made the initial 53-man roster, whereas Olubi was released and only returned when the Raiders put Dont'e Thornton Jr. on IR. Yes, Olubi will be a captain on special teams, but Lindenberg being inactive instead of Eichenberg doesn't compute. The former played better this preseason.
Perhaps Kubiak will explain this decision in the post-game press conference.
As for Las Vegas' other decisions, they all fall in line with what fans thought would happen. Bowers' injury has been well-documented, and there was no chance he'd play on Sunday after having a procedure on Tuesday, even if Kubiak tried to pull the wool over the media's eyes.
Reports have begun surfacing that Bowers could be back as soon as Week 2's game against the Los Angeles Chargers, but that feels soon for the Raiders to bring him back, as that'd be under two weeks since the operation. Kubiak has to take care of Bowers in a way that Pete Carroll never did.
O'Connell being the emergency third quarterback makes sense, even if there was a faction of this fanbase that, for some reason, believed he would be the No. 2 over rookie Fernando Mendoza. AOC will only play now if both Kirk Cousins and Mendoza leave the game with an injury.
Cabeldue and Darrell Luter Jr. are the team's two most recent additions, so it is not a surprise to see that they were inactive, as they likely need more time to acclimate to how things are being done in Las Vegas. Plus, they can't possibly know the playbook already.
After the emergence of Foley Fatukasi this preseason, JJ Pegues wasn't a likely candidate to be active on game days. Such was the case for him last year, but he ended up contributing toward the end of the campaign. Hopefully, those contributions come sooner in 2026.
Dalton Johnson being inactive is a bit disappointing, as he seemed like an obvious core special-teamer for the Raiders after the preseason, and he played pretty solidly on defense. But Tristin McCollum's experience must have won out in the end.
Johnson is the only rookie on the Raiders' roster who is not active in Week 1. Mendoza, Treydan Stukes, Trey Zuhn III, Mike Washington Jr. Jermod McCoy, Zeke Masses, and Malik Benson will all be in uniform this Sunday.
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