Oakland Raiders: Five veterans who may not make the 53-man roster
By Kevin Saito
We know Gruden loves a power running game and that he’s going to be installing that into his offensive schemes. With arguably, one of the best the best offensive lines in football, and a beast of a fullback as a lead blocker, it seems that Marshawn Lynch is going to get every opportunity to show he can still be Beast Mode.
The question is, what will Gruden do about the rest of his running backs?
If we’ve learned one thing from Gruden’s first tenure with the team, it’s that he likes his change of pace backs to pair with his bruisers. Guys who are quick slashers, who can also catch passes out of the backfield and make plays in space. Think Charlie Garner, Harvey Williams, or Napoleon Kaufman.
With Lynch set to be the bellcow back, and a number of other options already, it figures to be a numbers game in the backfield and somebody’s going to get squeezed out.
That guy will likely be Washington. He’s expendable because the Raiders already have another back with his skillset – Jalen Richard.
Since coming into the league together as part of Oakland’s 2016 draft class, Richard has proven to be a little more versatile and a little more valuable in the backfield. Richard has been more explosive than Washington, and has a little more added value on special teams as well.
This isn’t to say Washington’s been bad, or hasn’t done a good job of doing what he’s been asked to do. Not at all. This is just to say that Richard has done it a little bit better. Which is what’s going to allow him to hang on to a roster spot, while Washington is handed a pink slip.