With the Las Vegas Raiders' 2024 preseason in the books following a 24-24 tie with the San Francisco 49ers on Friday night, the team will now turn its attention to making final cuts.
Moves may start rolling in as early as Saturday, but the Raiders will have until Tuesday, Aug. 27, to trim their offseason roster down to 53. From there, Las Vegas will scour the waiver wire and free agency to see if they like any of the players other teams have cut loose.
With final cuts looming, we're taking one last crack at a 53-man roster projection. This final projection is based on what we've seen all offseason long, including in the three preseason games.
Here's what we came up with.
Raiders 53-man roster prediction
Quarterbacks (2)
Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell
Rookie Carter Bradley showed enough that the Raiders should keep him around in some form or fashion, but chances are he'll end up on the practice squad and not the 53-man roster. No Nathan Peterman, please.
Running backs (4)
Zamir White, Alexander Mattison, Ameer Abdullah, Dylan Laube
Laube is on a lot shakier ground than he was going into the preseason after not doing much during exhibition play. He gets the benefit of the doubt here, but his spot isn't as certain as it once was.
Wide receivers (7)
Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, DJ Turner, Kristian Wilkerson, Tyreik McAllister, Ramel Keyton
Wilkerson, McAllister and Keyton all shined in preseason Week 3 to earn their spots here. Keyton is probably on the shakiest ground of the three considering he's an undrafted rookie, but he showed enough to make the cut.
Tight ends (3)
Brock Bowers, Michael Mayer, Harrison Bryant
With the Raiders likely to deploy a lot of two tight end sets, they very well could carry a fourth. That said, none of the other tight ends on the roster did much to stand out and they'll be able to keep at least one of them on the practice squad.
Offensive linemen (9)
Kolton Miller, Cody Whitehair, Andre James, Dylan Parham, Thayer Munford Jr., Andrus Peat, Jackson Powers-Johnson, DJ Glaze, Jordan Meredith
No surprises here. Miller, Whitehair, James, Parham and Munford Jr. will be the starting group going into Week 1. Powers-Johnson should crack the starting group at some point but will need more time after missing a ton of the offseason. Glaze had a strong preseason and will be waiting in the wings if Munford Jr. struggles.
Interior defensive linemen (5)
Christian Wilkins, John Jenkins, Adam Butler, Byron Young, Matthew Butler
We've added Butler since our last projection after he had a standout showing in the preseason finale. His spot is anything but guaranteed, though, and the same can be said for Young.
Edge rushers (5)
Maxx Crosby, Malcolm Koonce, Tyree Wilson, Janarius Robinson, Charles Snowden
Another product of a strong preseason Week 3 showing, Snowden was sensational when it mattered most on Friday night. At the very least, he's improved his standing greatly, and in our mind he showed enough to earn a roster spot.
Linebackers (5)
Robert Spillane, Divine Deablo, Luke Masterson, Tommy Eichenberg, Amari Gainer
Gainer was an absolute beast in the exhibition finale, tallying a team-high 13 tackles, two of which went for a loss. The undrafted free agent has been a standout during the preseason and has done enough to earn himself a spot among the initial 53.
Cornerbacks (6)
Jack Jones, Jakorian Bennett, Nate Hobbs, Brandon Facyson, Decamerion Richardson, Sam Webb
Our last projection had undrafted free agent Woo Governor, but Webb stepped up on Friday night with a pass deflection that turned into an interception, and one of his six tackles came on special teams.
Safeties (4)
Tre'von Moehrig, Marcus Epps, Isaiah Pola-Mao, Christopher Smith
We've removed Trey Taylor after he was in the last projection, as the rookie didn't do much of anything during the preseason. Smith was already included in our last projection.
Specialists (3)
Daniel Carlson, AJ Cole, Jacob Bobenmoyer
No surprises here with the specialists, all of whom have been locked into their spots all offseason long.
