4 players the Raiders will regret leaving off the 53-man roster

The weeks between the final preseason game and the beginning of the season are the most stressful for any NFL franchise. In the span of just a few days, each team is required to cut their roster down from 90 players to 53. 

Not only this, but they have to put players on injured reserve, monitor which players are becoming available via trade, free agency, or the waiver wire, and do it all while accounting for things like cap space, scheme fit, and how transactions will affect team chemistry.

Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco and head coach Antonio Pierce had their hands full this week. While it is not easy to do, and no team is constructed perfectly, there are four players that the Raiders may regret leaving off the initial 53-man roster:

Sam Webb, CB

Webb has been around the team for a while, and after a promising rookie campaign as an undrafted free agent for the Raiders, he was released and signed by the Carolina Panthers for the 2023 season. He only participated in one game for the Panthers and signed back with the Raiders this offseason. 

He is a familiar face for Patrick Graham and company, and in 327 snaps his rookie year, he had 36 tackles and three passes defended, as well as a forced fumble. He also contributed on special teams, which is important to Pierce.  

In the preseason finale against the 49ers, Webb was the highest-graded player by PFF on the Raiders' defense, and he made an incredible play on the ball that led to an interception by Chris Smith II. Keep in mind, this was against San Francisco’s starters.

There are a few available corners right now that the team may be interested in, but hopefully, Webb clears waivers and returns to Las Vegas in some capacity. If not, the Raiders may regret it. 

Charles Snowden, DE

Snowden performed admirably during the preseason for the Silver and Black. His play was a large reason why many fans were ready for the team to cut ties with Tyree Wilson, but that was not a rational path for the team to take.

Instead, I began to get excited about Wilson moving inside to defensive tackle and Snowden getting a chance to play rotational reps at defensive end because he earned a spot on the team with his play. Unfortunately, Telesco and Pierce did not feel that way, as they waived Snowden today.

While he started the preseason slow, only recording a pass deflected in the opener against Minnesota, he showed steady improvement as the games went along, recording two tackles against Dallas.

But Snowden really came alive in the finale against San Francisco, and he was all over the field. He recorded three tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass deflected, and three QB hits. Keep in mind, much of this production was against the first-string players for the 49ers.

There are a handful of viable DE options on the market right now, but Snowden’s value was too good for me to pass up. The organization must have something up its sleeve because letting Snowden walk is a mistake. Hopefully, he will return to the practice squad. 

Matthew Butler, DT

Butler deserved to be on the 53-man roster. He improved throughout the preseason and capped off the three-game slate with a flashy performance, adding a sack and a QB hit to his three tackles.

It’s not that Butler is some high-end defensive tackle who was certain to have a ginormous impact for the Silver and Black, but it’s more about who made the team instead of him. Butler had twice the production that his replacement did last season and had 0.5 sacks whereas his competition had none.

Yes, there are other factors at play outside of production, but it’s hard to fathom why Butler did not make the initial squad. His motor is higher than the other depth players at his position on the Raiders, so ideally he is resigned to the practice squad. 

Zach Gentry or Cole Fotheringham, TE

Everyone knows that Luke Getsy loves his tight ends, so it was a bit shocking to see the team only keep three on the initial roster. My inkling is to say that when players are moved to IR, one of these two will be back in Las Vegas on the active roster before week 1. 

It is careless to only have three tight ends on the roster when you run a ton of two tight end sets, and one of the tight ends is a movable object. For example, if Bowers lines up in the backfield or out wide a lot, the Raiders only have one set of tight ends to work with. An injury would devastate this group.

Gentry is a veteran with 39 catches for 303 yards in his career, and Fotheringham is a promising young player even though he only has a single career catch. Neither made a huge splash in the preseason however, as Gentry caught one pass for seven yards and Fotheringham had 4 catches for 31 yards.

Part of this is because the Raiders were seemingly trying to find depth at wide receiver, as they ran three wideout sets 81% of the time in preseason according to Warren Sharp. The team will employ 12-personnel much more often and lean on tight ends in the regular season more than they did in the preseason, so do not be shocked to see one of these two back on the active roster as the Raiders take on the Chargers week 1.