Getty Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
The Oakland Raiders will be taking the field against the Chicago Bears on Sunday and have made a couple of moves ahead of kickoff. The team has promoted wide receiver, Marcell Ateman, from the practice squad and placed offensive lineman Jordan Devey on injured reserve with a corresponding move. The team also promoted Lester Cotton Sr. from the practice squad.
We have signed WR Marcell Ateman and G Lester Cotton Sr. to the 53-man active roster.
In a corresponding move, we have placed OL Jordan Devey on the Reserve/Injured List.
Fans should be familiar with Ateman as he played seven games for the silver and black in 2018. He caught 15 passes for 154 receiving yards and one touchdown. He’s a tall wide receiver at 6’4 and this may mean that Tyrell Williams won’t be playing against the Bears on Sunday. That’s a bad blow considering Chicago has a fierce defense and Williams has been the team’s number one wide receiver. With Vontaze Burfict serving a suspension, the team doesn’t need to make any additional cuts to make room for Cotton or Ateman.
Devey had started the last four games at offensive guard for the Raiders with Richie Incognito and Gabe Jackson. Incognito came back in Week 3 and Jackson should be back after the bye week, so Oakland should survive Devey’s absence just fine as he was always meant to be a backup. He had torn a pectoral muscle versus the Indianapolis Colts, which finished off his year. This is the same injury he suffered last year while a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cotton is an undrafted free agent out of Alabama who could see his first NFL action soon. He should still be in a backup role, but the Raiders are starting to run out of depth along the offensive line.
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If Tyrell Williams Is out, Can Keelan Doss Finally Breakout?
Much has been made of the undrafted rookie wide receiver, Keelan Doss. The Hard Knocks star became a fan favorite after his excellent preseason. He made his way to Jacksonville after the Raiders decided to cut him, but made his way back to Oakland after the team cut Antonio Brown. Well, Doss has suited up in three games and has only registered one catch for 14 yards. It’s obviously ridiculous to expect big things from an undrafted rookie in his first four games, but the Raiders need him to step up.
Jon Gruden didn’t promote Doss to the active roster so that he can catch one pass every four games. He’s not seeing a ton of snaps, but if Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson are out, the Raiders will seriously be hurting at wide receiver. Hunter Renfrow, Trevor Davis, Marcell Ateman and Keelan Doss doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. The team already lacked a true number one receiver and now they could be without their two best candidates. Somebody is going to need to step up because Darren Waller can’t do everything.
Hunter Renfrow has also been off to a disappointing start with just 11 catches for 89 yards with zero touchdowns. The rookie out of Clemson got a lot of hype coming into this season and he needs to start proving he was worth it.
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