The Las Vegas Raiders' new leadership tandem of John Spytek and Pete Carroll have stopped at nothing this offseason to improve the team's roster. Several gambles and big decisions have been made along the way, but the team is in a better spot now than this time last year.
Unfortunately, several fan favorites and promising end-of-roster players became collateral damage of the new regime's roster purge. This included stars like Robert Spillane, Nate Hobbs and Tre'Von Moehrig, as well as deeper pieces like Thayer Munford Jr. and Thomas Harper.
Another domino fell on that front when the Raiders announced their next handful of roster moves on Monday. Although he was a seventh-round pick in last year's NFL Draft, he is now completely absolved of all ties in Las Vegas with just days until the 2025 NFL season kicks off.
Raiders release safety Trey Taylor from practice squad
Last week, the Raiders were required to trim their roster down from 91 to 53 players. One of their releases was safety Trey Taylor, who was taken with the No. 223 overall pick in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
While he was initially brought back on the team's 17-man practice squad, Las Vegas made another move on Monday. This time, they announced that Taylor was being released from the practice squad, which is effectively the end of the rope for him in Las Vegas.
The writing was on the wall for Taylor this entire offseason, as the new brass extended Isaiah Pola-Mao and brought in Jeremy Chinn and Lonnie Johnson Jr. in free agency. 2023 fifth-rounder Chris Smith II also leapfrogged him in the safety rotation.
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When Johnson went down with an injury, Taylor had an opportunity to jump back into the fold. However, he ended up falling behind Smith, and the Raiders went out and signed former first-round safety Terrell Edmunds, who immediately began rotating in with the first group.
There was no role for Taylor in Las Vegas in 2025 despite him playing a 57% snap share on special teams a season ago. Defensively, however, it has become clear that he was too far behind the 8-ball to justify keeping him around, even on the practice squad.
This is an unfortunate end to Taylor's career with the Silver and Black, as the former Jim Thorpe award winner at the Air Force Academy came to Las Vegas with plenty of promise. Unfortunately, the new regime had other plans, and this is just another reminder of how fickle this game can be.