John Spytek's pursuit to make the Las Vegas Raiders a great team is relentless. The young general manager has proven through the last year or so that, no matter what portion of the calendar we are in, he is scanning every available avenue to tweak the roster and find upgrades.
Las Vegas has made some strides through the offseason program, OTAs and mandatory minicamp, but the work is nowhere close to done. In reality, it has just begun. So, as the picture becomes clearer for Spytek and Co., or as players get injured, the Raiders need to have solutions to problems.
On Wednesday, the Silver and Black made their first move in quite some time. The team announced after the second and final day of mandatory minicamp practice that they were placing wide receiver Corey Rucker on the reserve/injured list and signing wide receiver Brandon Johnson to replace him.
Las Vegas Raiders sign ultra-connected WR Brandon Johnson after mandatory minicamp
Rucker came to Las Vegas earlier this offseason as an undrafted free agent who had a lot of promise. Fans were disappointed at the news, as Rucker was a record-setting wideout at Arkansas State who had an outside chance to sneak onto the roster or at least make the practice squad.
But he must have sustained a fairly serious injury during mandatory minicamp, triggering the team to immediately place him on the injured reserve and pick up Johnson in his place. Johnson was waived on Tuesday by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Raiders immediately scooped him up.
Johnson, the cousin of legendary NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson (or Ochocinco), has no shortage of connections to the new staff in Las Vegas. Starting at the top, he played for the Denver Broncos in 2022 when Klint Kubiak was their passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Way back in 2016, during Johnson's freshman season at Tennessee, his wide receivers coach was Zach Azzanni, who currently holds the same position with the Raiders. The two crossed paths again in 2024 and 2025 with the Steelers, so Johnson and Azzanni know each other quite well.
Although Johnson's career stat totals of 26 catches for 335 yards and 5 touchdowns in 23 appearances across four seasons aren't exactly exciting, he is a big-bodied player with some alignment versatility. Plus, most of that production did come in his only real opportunity in 2023.
He caught 19 touchdowns for 284 yards and four touchdowns for the Broncos that year, his touchdowns being the second-most on the team. But Johnson hasn't proven himself at the NFL level quite yet as a consistent pass-catcher, and his special teams ability and experience is limited.
As it stands now, Johnson is in the same position that Rucker was in: Unlikely to make the 53-man team, but surely a candidate for the practice squad. Time will tell how the connected Johnson will fare in training camp and the preseason, but he's a solid pickup in the wake of some bad news for Rucker.
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