Oakland Raiders: Five veterans who may not make the 53-man roster
By Kevin Saito
At the moment, there seems to be a logjam in the wide receivers room. We already know the top three of the pecking order will be Amari Cooper, Martavis Bryant, and Jordy Nelson. What we don’t know, is who is going to win the battle for the two, maybe three other roster spots.
Right now, the roster is jam-packed with the likes of Roberts, Johnny Holton, Ryan Switzer, Dwayne Harris, Griff Whalen, Saeed Blacknall, and this year’s seventh-round pick Marcell Ateman, along with a few others.
In other words, too many cooks, not nearly enough kitchen.
We already know that Gruden has been looking to trade Roberts this offseason. Which would seem to make his roster spot tenuous. At best.
It doesn’t seem likely that Gruden and/or GM Reggie McKenzie are going to find a trade partner for Roberts. If anybody wants him, they’ll likely just wait until he’s cut to avoid giving up valuable assets in exchange. It seems entirely possible, if not likely, that Roberts will be cut by the end of training camp.
The only thing that could save Roberts is that if they cut him, he’ll carry a $4 million dead money hit against the cap – and if there’s one thing McKenzie doesn’t like, it’s dead money.
But, if Roberts truly has no place on the roster, and given the acquisitions made this offseason in players like Switzer, Harris, and Atemen, it seems his spot at the moment is hanging on by a thread.
They’ll probably still try like crazy to get something out of it by trading him, but if there are no takers, they’ll very likely wind up cutting Roberts and eating his salary this year, and clear his $4.65 million dollar salary off next year’s books.