Returning Raider Nation’s questions for the week
Training camp is over, the preseason is over, cutdown day came and went, and the Las Vegas Raiders have their initial 53-man roster. The regular season is so close we can practically touch it! I’m excited and I know you are so let’s dive into this mailbag with an eye toward the start of the 2024 season!
A: The way the Raiders handled Brandon Facyson was very questionable to me.
Facyson barely practiced after suffering an injury at the beginning of training camp, for the second year in a row, but he still made the team and took a spot on the 53-man roster from someone like Woo Governor, who could have been a backup nickelback. Then, Facyson got placed on injured reserve only to get released with an injury settlement the next day.
Granted, the team could still add Governor to the practice squad as he hasn’t been picked up by another club at the time of writing, and adding a veteran like Patrick Peterson (just throwing a name out there) is still on the table.
But it’s frustrating to me that Las Vegas originally kept Facyson only to let him go a few days later when the front office could have used his roster spot for someone who was available on the waiver wire or a young player like Governor.
A: I agree that the Raiders’ defensive tackle depth is shallow. However, I think if they were going to add someone before the start of the season, that would have happened this week. At this point, what will likely happen is Las Vegas rolls with the guys it has and addss a veteran later if Christian Wilkins or John Jenkins go down.
I also think the coaching staff is higher on Nesta Jade Silvera than most people realize.
Q: Gardner Minshew is clearly closer to what Luke Getsy wants in his offense than Aidan O’Connell. Evidence, Justin Fields rushing yards in 2022 and 2023. Thoughts?
A: That logic doesn’t hold up because Minshew is more of a scrambler than a designed runner unlike Fields who can be used on read options, quarterback keepers, etc. For example, while Minshew has 619 career rushing yards, he has 644 on scrambles and negative 25 on designed runs per Pro Football Focus. Meanwhile, Fields’ numbers are 1,448 and 768.
Don’t get me wrong, Minshew is more athletic and a better runner than O’Connell is, but he’s still not a running quarterback like Fields. Also, Getsy was criticized for taking too long to call designed runs for Fields, so I don’t think designed quarterback runs are necessarily a big part of his offense and he was just adapting to Fields’ skillset.
A: The guaranteed money is always more important with contracts because the rest is just incentive-based, and Minshew only got $15 million guaranteed. But even at $25 million or $12.5 million per year, he’s the 21st-highest-paid quarterback in the league and there’s a $12.5 million gap between him and Geno Smith who ranks 20th, per Over The Cap.
The only starting quarterbacks Minshew is making more money than are Sam Darnold ($10 million), Jacoby Brissett ($8 million) and guys on rookie contracts. Technically, Russell Wilson is on a $1.21 million contract, but I’m not counting him. The only reason Wilson took that deal is any money he got from the Steelers would just be offset from his Broncos contract so there was no reason for him to sign for more than the veteran minimum.
I’m far from Minshew’s biggest fan but his contract isn’t that big of a deal with the current quarterback market.
A: I think your question is more for reporters who are at training camp. As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m not at practice so I can’t talk about what I haven’t seen. What I try to do is provide you guys with breakdowns based on what I’ve seen on film and feel like I did that during the preseason.
For example, I wrote about Byron Young looking bad in the first preseason game and did two film room pieces on how Tyree Wilson was behind schedule in his development over the last month. I’m not able to get to every player on the roster but, in my opinion, I do a decent job of telling you what I see.
A: Thomas Harper, who the Raiders claimed off waivers from the Chargers, is listed as a safety but was primarily a nickel corner at Notre Dame. So they have six corners on the active roster which is pretty typical across the league and the same amount that they kept last year. Also, M.J. Devonshire and Sam Webb are still on the practice squad and can be called up at any time if needed.
That being said, I do think Las Vegas is thin at corner and that's the reason why they picked up Darnay Holmes along with Harper after cutdown day.
A: I think if the Raiders were going to move on from Tyree Wilson this season, it would have happened sometime over the last two weeks. So, it would surprise me if he doesn’t finish the season on the active roster.
In my opinion, Elerson Smith and Charles Snowden outplayed Wilson in the preseason, but Smith was waived with an injury designation and Snowden at least was signed on the practice squad. Also, those two are older than Wilson, meaning they have a lower ceiling or less potential than he does, and the organization does have more money invested in Wilson if that’s what you’re referring to by “scholarship move”.
A: Neither were good in the preseason, but Wilson. He’s at least young while Andrus Peat turns 31 in November and is clearly in the final stages of his career.
A: I’ve seen the idea of Wilson converting to a full-time defensive tackle floated around a lot and I understand where it comes from since he isn’t very athletic for a modern defensive end. However, as you referred to, his best trait right now is setting the edge as a run defender which isn’t as important on the interior defensive line.
Also, Wilson is 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds which is pretty tall for a defensive tackle and that would hurt his leverage taking on blocks on the interior, and he’d be light for a DT. In other words, that transition would be as smooth as people seem to think it would be. For example, Christian Wilkins is 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, so he has more natural leverage and more mass than Wilson does.
The other factor to consider is Malcolm Koonce is a free agent whereas Wilkins is under contract for several more years. If you keep Wilson at defensive end, the hope (and it might be more like a prayer at this point, lol) is that he can develop and potentially start next year if Koonce walks. But if Wilson moves to defensive tackle, that’s basically guaranteeing he’ll be a backup for the entirety of his rookie contract.
Long story short, I’d just keep him at end and hope that he eventually figures it out.
A: I’m also very high on and intrigued by Amari Gainer’s future and think he could be a stud in the making. He was the Raiders’ best player in the preseason, in my opinion. See the article below.
A: Directly to the active roster. The waiver wire is designed to give young players a chance to have a spot on another team’s 53-man roster if their current club doesn’t have an opening for them.
So, anytime a player who has less than four accrued NFL seasons is cut, another team can claim him and add him to its roster. That’s what people mean when they say someone has to “clear waivers” before they can be added to the practice squad. Once the player clears waivers, he becomes a free agent and can sign with any team’s practice squad.
A: Jonah Laulu’s preseason tape isn’t good—otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten cut—and he does have similar issues as Byron Young, most notably taking on double teams. But the difference is Laulu is much more athletic which gives him a higher ceiling, especially as a pass-rusher.
So, I don’t think the new addition will make much of an impact this year, but the idea is he becomes a better player down the line. Young was pretty bad in two out of three preseason games, meaning he probably wasn’t going to be a factor this season either. From there, it’s just a matter of keeping the guy who the organization thinks has a brighter future.
A: No.
Trading for a starting quarterback midseason has disaster written all over it. It’s the most difficult position to play mentally and it will take several weeks to learn a new offense, let alone master it.
So, the Raiders would either be starting someone who doesn’t have a strong grasp of the playbook or a guy whose confidence is likely in shambles because the organization basically told him that he’s a lame duck by trading for someone else.
All the while, they’d be giving up draft picks that could help them land the quarterback of the future in the offseason. With Dak Prescott being an impending free agent while Geno Smith and Matthew Stafford are in their mid-30s, trading for one of those guys doesn’t give the Raiders a long-term solution at the position.
