Oakland Raiders: Four UDFA’s who could earn a spot on the 53-man roster

Eddy Pineiro, K, Florida

When the Raiders let go of franchise icon Sebastian Janikowski, most assumed that last year’s kicker, Giorgio Tavecchio, would inherit the role. It’s a reasonable assumption, given that he filled in fairly well for Janikowski last season, though the ride wasn’t completely without some bumps along the way.

Still, it makes sense that Gruden would bring in some competition for the job. One would think though that Tavecchio, as the incumbent, has the inside track. But, if there’s anything we can take away from this offseason so far, it’s that the only constant is change and that people will have to fight for their jobs.

Count Tavecchio among those currently fighting for a job.

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Florida kicker, Eddy Pineiro, has a strong leg and is relatively accurate, notching a two-year field goal percentage of 88 percent – 94 percent last year, hitting on 17 of 18 attempts. He also has a career extra point percentage of 96.6 percent (56 of 58).

What could potentially give Pineiro the inside track on the job is that the Raiders drafted former Florida punter Johnny Townsend in the fifth-round – who happens to be Pineiro’s holder. And perhaps, not so coincidentally, Gruden has recently discussed, at length, the importance of the holder to a kicker. Which, of course, is true, but not normally something you’d expect a coach to rave about.

Also worth noting is that Gruden also recently mentioned that the team almost used a draft pick to take Pineiro, but ultimately decided against it, opting to bring him in as a UDFA.

It should be a good camp competition, and we shouldn’t be surprised to see Pineiro beat out Tavecchio for the job.