The Las Vegas Raiders are slightly shaking up their linebacker room. Germaine Pratt was cut earlier in the week, and the team signed Jon Rhattigan to replace him on the active roster.
They weren’t done there. Head coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Wednesday that the Raiders have also signed linebacker Jamin Davis to the practice squad.
“I see a lot of potential in him, and I’m anxious to see what we can do with that,” Carroll said of Davis.
Davis first came into the NFL as a first-round pick of the Washington Commanders in 2021. He spent a little more than three seasons with the team before getting cut. In that time, he started 36 games for the Commanders.
Last season, Davis spent time with the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and New York Jets, but only appeared in four games for the Vikings. He did spend the offseason with the Jets, but they decided to let him go before the season.
Davis does have some pass rush ability, as he has 8.0 sacks in his career. His best season came in 2022 when he had 104 combined tackles and 3.0 sacks. Davis is going to have to work his way to the active roster, but he could potentially be a replacement for Pratt in the future.
Raiders Cut Jeff Driskel
The Raiders didn’t have an open spot on the practice squad, so they had to release a player. That player ended up being quarterback Jeff Driskel.
Between Cam Miller, Geno Smith, Kenny Pickett and Driskel, the Raiders had four quarterbacks in the building. That made Driskel expendable. The 32-year-old veteran has been in the NFL since 2016 and joined the Raiders right before the season.
Las Vegas already has two veteran quarterbacks in Smith and Pickett, so it was already a bit odd that they were keeping a spot on the practice squad for Driskel. This is good news for Miller, who is now definitively the team’s emergency third quarterback going forward.
Geno Smith Knows He Needs to Be Smarter
Another reason Driskel was expendable is due to Smith’s durability. The quarterback doesn’t miss a lot of games and has been healthy for the Raiders. The problem with Smith is that he just hasn’t been very good.
He leads the NFL with nine interceptions and was bad again in Week 5 against the Indianapolis Colts, throwing two more interceptions. Smith acknowledged that he really needs to be smarter with his decision-making.
“I’m aware of the process, and I know exactly what I’m doing out there,” Smith said Wednesday. “Guys make plays on me, and I got to be smarter with the ball in those situations.”
The Raiders are in big trouble if Smith can’t turn things around. He was supposed to solve their quarterback problem for at least a couple of seasons, but he’s been worse than Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell from last season. He’s proven in the past that he can be very good, but that hasn’t been the case in Las Vegas. The good news for him is that Carroll trusts him and will give him time to get back on track.
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