On the same day the team announced the dismissal of Pete Carroll as head coach, the Las Vegas Raiders embarked on the offseason roster building the Monday the regular season concluded.
General manager John Spytek, who is going to be the lead architect on the Silver & Black’s roster alongside the next head coach, got busy like the rest of the other 31 NFL teams on “Black Monday” by inking 12 players to reserve/future contracts.
A majority of the dozen were already in the Raiders’ program on the practice
squad. And it’s a mix of young and veteran players. And it’s easy to dismiss the early offseason signings as nothing more than cannon fodder, because, most of the time, that’s what they often are. But defensive tackle Adam Butler is a prime example of a flier signing turning into a solid 53-man roster contributor.
Once Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady identify and hire the head coach they see fit to lead the Silver & Black, the roster building continues. That entails free agency in March and then the 2026 NFL Draft in April. Spytek’s player personnel group also has a group of 25 in-house free agents.
And in the season-ending press conference, the general manager admitted to his shortcomings in that regard during his initial offseason in Las Vegas.
It was one that saw 14 in-house free agents from the 2024 squad ink deals elsewhere. Most lucrative were safety Tre’Von Moehrig (three year, $51-million pact with the Carolina Panthers), cornerback Nate Hobbs (four-year, $48-million deal with the Green Bay Packers), and linebacker Robert Spillane (three-year, $33-million contract with the New England Patriots). Linebacker Divine Deablo was a solid defender for the Atlanta Falcons (two-year, $14-million deal) while edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson is good production/value with the Patriots (one-year, $3-million contract).
“And, yeah, we don’t want to let good players leave our building. That’s happened around here,” Spytek said. “I was in charge last year when a couple good players left the building. And it’s one of the things I learned, you got to keep our good players here. And we were talking about it this morning. You look around the league there’s some former Raiders that are playing good football somewhere. And I got to do a better job in that world.”
Let’s take a look at the in-house free agents that merit a return. I’ll be going through unrestricted free agents, which OverTheCap lists as 19 0f the 25 in-house free agents. The group of four exclusive rights free agents and two restricted free agents are likely back on one-year tenders.
Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA)
- Kyu Blu Kelly, cornerback, 24 years old
- Charles Snowden, defensive end, 27 years old
- Tristin McCollum, safety, 26
- Will Putnam, center/guard, 25
Restricted Free Agents (RFA)
- Thomas Booker, defensive tackle, 26
- Jordan Meredith, center/guard, 27
Eric Stokes
Cornerback, 26 years old: One of Spytek’s flier signings that hit, the 6-foot-1 and 193-pound cornerback fit the size, speed, length requires of former Raiders head coach Pete Carroll. But Stokes has the makings of a scheme versatile cover corner that can shadow top wide receivers.
As a career-high 16-game starter, Stokes was charted by Pro Football Reference as allowing 34 catches on 60 targets (56.7 percent completion rate) for 329 yards and one touchdown this past season. Opposing quarterbacks sported a 77.7 rating throwing Stokes’ way. While the cornerback didn’t snare as ingle interception this year, he did have five pass deflections alongside 53 total tackles and three stops for loss.
Spotrac lists Stokes’ market value to be around $6.3 and $7.1 million and the Raiders do have operating room in terms of a healthy salary cap figure.
Devin White
Linebacker, 28 years old: Another one of Spytek’s flier free-agent signings last offseason, White not re-upping with the Raiders would surprise me.
Namely because of the fact Spytek was in the front office of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that drafted White fifth overall in the 2019 draft.
White did set a new franchise record with 174 total tackles while adding 11 stops for loss, 2.5 sacks, one interception, three pass deflections, and a forced fumble. Sure White was picked on in coverage (70 completions on 91 targets (76.9 percent completion rate for 475 yards and three touchdowns; quarterback throwing at White had a 94.3 rating), but he’s new age Kirk Morrison.
OverTheCap has a market valuation of $5.95 million annually for White, which is quite manageable.
Daniel Carlson
Kicker, 30 years old: The open market isn’t flooded with a standout kicker and unless the Raiders are eyeing a collegiate prospect to place kick, a reunion with Carlson is likely on the horizon.
It was a down year for the kicker that’s spent the last eight seasons a Raider as he went 22-of-27 with an 81.5 percent field goal percentage (third lowest of his career). The 2025 performance marks a continued downward trend since the 2020 season where Carlson sported a 94.3 percent field goal rate. Since, it’s been 93, 91.9, 86.7, 85 and 81.5 percent.
Carlson wants to return but his special teams kicking battery tag team partner punter AJ Cole III was extended as he was on a lame-duck contract year. Carlson could earn a very similar contract like the extension he inked in 2021 with the Raiders (four-year, $18.4 million) as OverTheCap has a $4.6 million valuation on Carlson. And that was the annual value of the extension he inked back in 2021.
Jacob Bobenmoyer
Long snapper, 28 years old: Brought in when Tom McMahon started his special teams coordinator gig back in 2022 as a coaching staff member of Josh McDaniels’ crew.
Bobenmoyer replaced previous Raiders longsnapper Trent Sieg and has handled the duties of launching the ball to the capable hands and leg of holder and punter, Cole. And while this offseason could be ample reset time, especially with a new head coach eventually coming in and assembling a staff of his own, both the longsnapper and kicker being unrestricted free agents represents a potential core change in the group that’d only feature Cole.
Bobenmoyer’s market value is similar to the $1.27-plus million annual valuation in the three-year, $3.815-million deal he inked with the Raiders in 2023.
Jamal Adams
Linebacker, 30 years old: A veteran minimum flier, the safety-turned-linebacker had a clean bill of health and played in all 17 games with four starts for the Raiders in 2025.
His numbers aren’t eye-popping (45 total tackles, five stops for loss, one sack, one forced fumble) but Adams brings plenty of aggression, mean intentions, speed, and wallop at 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds. A heady veteran presence who can be a lead-by-example type, Adams showcased to be a harrier of a blitzer (sent 27 times).
With the Raiders lacking depth, another short-term, one-year or two-year contract may get Adams back in Las Vegas as OverTheCap has a $2.468-million annual valuation. And that’s peanuts compared to other valuations.
