The Las Vegas Raiders were required to trim their roster to 53 players on Tuesday. They faced some harsh decisions at several positions after a training camp where Pete Carroll preached the theme of competition.
It was clear that Kolton Miller and DJ Glaze would retain their starting roles at offensive tackle, with third-round rookie Charles Grant claiming one of the two backup slots. The true competition was for the fourth and final tackle spot, which came down to a battle between Thayer Munford Jr. and Dalton Wagner.
Munford, a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, held the advantage in experience as he has made 46 appearances and 18 starts over his first three seasons. Wagner, who went undrafted the following year and spent the past two seasons in Las Vegas, has yet to make his NFL debut.
Raiders opt for Thayer Munford's experience over Dalton Wagner's strong preseason
Despite his lack of regular season experience, the latter clearly outperformed the former during the preseason. It was a shock, however, when the 53-man roster was finalized, that Munford beat out Wagner for the fourth tackle spot.
Munford, who is now entering his fourth season in the NFL, continued to struggle in the preseason. Meanwhile, Wagner was one of the best tackles across the entire NFL in three exhibition games. Tristen Kuhn highlighted the difference in their performance in two separate tweets. He initially noted how well Wagner played.
"Among Tackles with 50+ snaps, #Raiders T Dalton Wagner: 77.8 PFF Grade (7th) 94.3 RBLK (1st) 48.6 PBLK (98th) 0 sacks allowed (T-1st) 2 pressures allowed (T-3rd) Played all 55 snaps at RT," Kuhn wrote.
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Kuhn then followed this up by pointing out Munford's shortcomings in the preseason.
"#Raiders T Thayer Munford allowed 2 sacks and 7 pressures in preseason (122 snaps, 76 PBLK, 46 RBLK)," Kuhn wrote. "On the team, he finished last in pressures allowed, PFF Grade, sacks allowed, and 2nd to last for PBLK Grade (Atonio Mafi). IPP Player Laki Tasi, who was playing rugby 5 months ago, finished higher in all marks. Among all NFL OL in preseason, Munford finished T-4th in pressures allowed, T-2nd in sacks allowed, and 123rd in PBLK Grade."
The decision to keep Munford over Wagner was one of the more puzzling roster moves. It should be noted, however, that 2024 offensive line coach James Cregg believed Munford was a better player at left tackle than right tackle.
It is possible that the new regime viewed things similarly and opted to keep Munford as insurance in case Kolton Miller goes down. While the Raiders lack depth across the offensive line, Munford's experience, particularly with entering games off the bench, likely contributed to the decision to keep him on the roster.
Wagner did land on the Raiders' practice squad, thankfully, so there is still time for the former Arkansas Razorback to supplant Munford at some point this season.