The Las Vegas Raiders continue to tinker with their roster after they cut it down to 53 players. The secondary remains a concern for the team, but there are some notable players who have become available.
Safety Tristin McCollum spent the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, but was waived recently. He won’t be headed to free agency.
The Raiders claimed the veteran safety, and he’ll now be playing in Las Vegas. McCollum came into the NFL in 2022 as an undrafted free agent of the Houston Texans, but didn’t get any playing time until he went to the Eagles.
He played 14 games last season for the Super Bowl champions and started in two of them. At 6-foot-3, he has the type of size head coach Pete Carroll likes in a defensive back. Between McCollum and Isaiah Pola-Mao, the Raiders have two of the tallest safeties in the NFL.
Safety depth was a bit of concern. Jeremy Chinn is lining up at nickel cornerback quite a bit, so he might not be taking as many safety snaps. McCollum is a player who can step in and play some snaps if the Raiders need him to. It doesn’t hurt for the team to have more depth.
Carroll Talks Cornerback Room
While another safety will help, the Raiders’ cornerback room is still very concerning. The team has decided against making any notable additions. Eric Stokes looks like he’s locked in as a starter, while Kyu Blu Kelly and rookie Darien Porter continue to fight for the other spot.
According to Carroll, the Raiders aren’t locked in on starters yet. They’re going to cycle through a few cornerbacks.
“We’ve got really good competition over there on the other side, and we’ll see how that works out by the end of the week. We’ll keep it going,” Carroll said on Thursday. “A number of guys will play in the game. You’ll see a lot of guys will be rolling through there.”
It’s difficult to question Carroll, who has a very strong background in developing cornerbacks. However, this is an odd strategy for a team that might have the weakest secondary in the NFL on paper.
Raiders Will Likely Keep Making Roster Moves
There’s still a lot of roster movement around the NFL. Players who aren’t available right now could still become available. It’s clear that the Raiders aren’t opposed to making more moves.
The Raiders seem pretty set on offense. They solved their wide receiver need by adding Amari Cooper, and brought in more offensive line depth with the Stone Forsythe signing.
On defense, the Raiders do have a lot of intriguing young players, which might make it more difficult to add veterans. Any young player who is cut will be subject to the waiver wire. That makes it more complicated to add them to the practice squad.
The biggest position the Raiders should consider is cornerback. They like their young players, but it would be wise to have more veteran help. That said, the team hasn’t addressed the issue yet, so they might just be comfortable with what they have.
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