Ex-Raiders Training Camp Favorite Signs With AFC West Rival

   

Over the years, the Las Vegas Raiders have had many players who flashed in training camp, but never did much during the season. Former seventh-round pick Nesta Jade Silvera was a player who looked like a potential impact player in practice.

Longtime Raiders Starter Signs With AFC West Rival - Athlon Sports

He only ended up playing nine games combined in the last two seasons, and the Raiders moved on in the middle of last year. Silvera was on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad for some of last season and then signed with the Green Bay Packers in free agency.

The Packers released him before the start of training camp, but he’s been able to land with another team. The Los Angeles Chargers announced that they’ve signed the young defensive tackle to a contract.

Silvera should be very familiar with the Chargers after spending two years with the Raiders. He gets to return to the AFC West and may have a chance to play against his former team. Silvera has shown some interesting flashes, but hasn’t gotten much of a chance to show what he can do on the field. The Chargers have a strong defensive line, so it’ll take some work for him to earn a roster spot at the end of training camp.


Raiders Hope to Have Found Upgrade at DT

Defensive tackle is a position that the Raiders have had a very hard time finding stability at. The team gave big money to Christian Wilkins last offseason, but he was recently released after just one season.

 

Adam Butler got a contract extension this offseason, but he’s more of a pass rusher than a run stuffer. This led to the Raiders trading cornerback Jakorian Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles for defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV.

Booker hasn’t been able to earn consistent snaps with the Eagles due to their deep defensive tackle group, but he’s shown some promise. He was recently playing very well in practice before the trade.

“I try to focus on every year individually,” Booker told reporters, via The Athletic. “So, I know that I have to earn things year over year, and that’s the wonderful thing about the league. It’s a tough thing about the league. … Football is very much a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type sport, so I treat it like that. Definitely made some strides last year, but there’s more things for me to do.”


Raiders Get ‘B-‘ for Trade

Though the Raiders did fill a need by landing Booker, they did move on from a promising young cornerback in Bennett. That’s why Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports could only give the Raiders a “B-” when he graded the trade.

“Though Bennett is fully recovered from a torn labrum that limited him to 10 games, he appeared to fall out of favor due to his size (listed at 5-foot-10, 200 pounds), as Raiders coach Pete Carroll likely wanted to go in a different direction,” Kerr wrote. “Bennett was getting buried on the depth chart behind the likes of Eric Stokes, Darien Porter, and Decamerion Richardson.

“Parting ways with a proven commodity like Bennett doesn’t make sense, but a new coaching staff and new system means other players get better opportunities. If Bennett was cut, he would have been claimed — so the Eagles parted ways with a player at a position with depth.”