As the Las Vegas Raiders continue turning the page this offseason, remnants of past regimes should continue falling by the wayside. Outside of a few familiar faces, the coaching staff is already being rebuilt in Klint Kubiak's vision, and free agency and the draft will see the roster constructed similarly.
John Spytek is likely to exchange Tom Telesco and Dave Ziegler's acquisitions for his own as he further assembles the new-look and hopefully much-improved Raiders. Plus, it is far easier for an NFL general manager to admit that it was someone else who made those mistakes.
However, Spytek did not have a perfect offseason in his first go-around as the chief decision-maker. In fact, one of his first moves while in charge of the Raiders was signing free agent offensive lineman Alex Cappa, who some are already listing as a cut candidate after just one year.
Raiders OL Alex Cappa listed as potential cut candidate this offseason
Cappa, after being released by the Cincinnati Bengals before free agency last offseason, was quickly signed to a two-year, $11 million deal by Spytek and the Raiders. But The Athletic's Ted Nguyen doesn't think that will save him this year in Las Vegas.
"One of the many Raiders mistakes of last offseason was rushing to pay Cappa $5 million. He was coming off a season in which he played like one of the worst starting guards in the league, didn’t look much better last season, and couldn’t help a Raiders line that struggled," Nguyen explained. "He’s scheduled to make $6 million next year, but the Raiders can save $5 million ($1 million in dead cap) by cutting him and adding to their wealth of cap space. This should be one of the easiest decisions of this offseason."
As Nguyen mentioned, the Raiders built an "out" into his contract after the 2025 season. Cutting Cappa, unlike other high-dollar free agents, won't incur much of a financial penalty for the Silver and Black. It's so small that Spytek shouldn't hesitate if he doesn't think Cappa can turn things around.
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It's not like Cappa was put in a position to succeed in Las Vegas under Brennan Carroll's tutelage, and he did put some solid reps on tape at center in the back half of the year. But Cappa didn't do enough, even compared to the Raiders' other interior offensive linemen, to warrant bringing him back.
Las Vegas will have plenty of avenues to improve the trenches this offseason, so the Silver and Black should be able to find upgrades. Plus, with Cappa clearly declining in his career and already 31 years old, his timeline doesn't really line up with where the Raiders are at in this rebuild.
His relationship with Spytek and Tom Brady dates back to when they worked together as members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so maybe Cappa gets the benefit of the doubt. But if the choice is purely about football and financial savings, Cappa is as clear a cut candidate as Nguyen made him out to be.