It's that time of year. When every NFL team must do the seemingly insurmountable task of taking their team from a 90-player roster to 53...all at once.
When that happens, there are going to be a lot of tough choices to make. Sometimes players are cut despite having played well, but just because coaches are trying to best form a roster. They like to say it's a numbers game. For instance, if the team has seven good wide receivers, one or two of those guys will have to be cut. It simply makes no sense to carry seven wide receivers on a roster.
Now, the Raiders don't have that problem at wide receiver. If anything, they have the opposite problem at that position. So, they may just be sitting there waiting to scoop up one of the cuts from another team
that does have the problem of too much talent at receiver.
When putting together my 53-man roster projection for the Raiders, there were some tough decisions to make. One was deciding who the fifth WR was going to be because no one stepped up to show they deserved it. But there were tough cuts at other positions as well.
Here are the four that gave me particular trouble.
RB Dare Ogunbowale
This one had more to do with the uncertain status of Ashton Jeanty than anything. Jeanty suffered an ankle sprain in practice last week and his timetable is unknown at this point. I'm sure the Raiders would like to protect their interests by holding onto Ogunbowale, at least until Jeanty is healthy again. In my projection I have the Raiders keeping Dylan Laube instead, mainly because of his overall value in his versatility.
In the end I figured the Raiders probably feel like they can cut Ogunbowale and then get him back on the practice squad. Then if Jeanty is not back by the regular season, they can elevate Ogunbowale for game day. Something they could do three times before having to signing him to the roster. So, that's why Ogunbowale was the odd man out.
DT Gary Smith III
For a minute there it looked like this undrafted rookie would make the roster. Then the team signed Folorunso Fatukasi and in one game, he looked like he was easily the most talented nose tackle on the roster. Smith had been in the lead at that spot over the likes of drafted guys like Brandon Cleveland and JJ Pegues.
DE Cian Slone
Slone is a nice story. He is a try-hard guy who gets the most out of his reps. And ultimately, he will probably contribute as a special teams maven and reserve edge rusher either with the Raiders or another team. But the Raiders have five other edge rushers who are pretty sure bets to make the roster over him and they can't keep a sixth. It was Patrick Johnson's outstanding play that earned him the nod for the final spot on the roster projection.
CB Greedy Vance
There was no position I went back and for more than cornerback. Really, it was between Vance and Decamerion Richardson. Where Vance stands out is his ability to play the slot. He is the primary backup slot corner on this team. And he does well as a tackler despite his 5-9, 177-pound stature. He played well too. Then again so did Richardson. Even though Richardson got called out for his penalty on special teams where he went out of bounds and came back in and was the first to touch the ball. Hard to imagine that one mistake would get him cut though.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: 4 toughest cuts from our final Raiders 53-man roster projection
