Nathan Peterman seemed to be in a good place more than three years after he left the Buffalo Bills. He had moved beyond the rocky start to his career, landing a stable backup job with a coach who very publicly supported him.
But in the span of just a few weeks, that coach abruptly resigned and Peterman was just as abruptly released. The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly cut ties with the quarterback on Monday.
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Peterman Cut Loose
As Levi Damien of USA Today’s Raiders Wire reported, the team decided to cut Peterman. Because the release took place before the trade deadline, he will move straight to free agency and does not have to go through waivers.
Raiders cut Nathan Peterman.
Many were not surprised when the Raiders and then-head coach Jon Gruden snagged Peterman after he left the Bills in November 2018. Gruden had been one of Peterman’s biggest proponents, praising his decision-making while serving as an ESPN analyst when the Bills picked him in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
“He is sharp,” Gruden said in a pre-draft conference call, via NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk. “He is in the channel, I think, of success. I think he’s going to be a real good pro quarterback. I think any team in the league, you can cater your offense for Peterman. He’s a lot more athletic than people think.”
Gruden left the Raiders abruptly last month, resigning as head coach after leaked emails showed him sharing homophobic and misogynistic messages.
In Buffalo, Peterman struggled to show the potential that Gruden claimed to see in him. He completed 52% of his passes and threw just three touchdowns with 12 interceptions during his time with the Bills, ultimately losing the starting job to Josh Allen for good in 2018.
Peterman had been third on the depth chart in Las Vegas, with Marcus Mariota holding down the backup spot behind Derek Carr. While he had only made two regular-season appearances for a total of 15 snaps, Peterman appeared to be highly valued. With Mariota hurt and the Raiders protecting Carr, Peterman played the entirety of the 2021 preseason and earned a big endorsement from the team’s starting quarterback.
“I hope he doesn’t play too much because then someone is going to want to try and come get him,” Carr told The Athletic’s Vic Tafur. “We enjoy having him around. Honestly, out of all the quarterbacks I’ve been around, I could hang around with him all day long. So, hopefully when he gets in there, he balls out.”
Next Step for Peterman
Bills fans likely remember Peterman as the interception-prone quarterback who initially won the starting job over the rookie Allen before quickly losing it. In his first NFL start in 2017, Peterman threw five first-half interceptions against the Los Angeles Chargers. He continued to have issues with ball security — as ESPN’s Mike Rodak pointed out back in 2018, Peterman’s 9.23% interception was the third-highest of any quarterback since 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
Peterman to Ateman 🙌
@Raiders take the lead!
Peterman now joins a crowded free-agent class that includes former NFL MVP Cam Newton. But Raiders Wire’s Damien suggested that the Raiders could already have his next move planned out, saying it’s likely that Peterman finds his way back to the practice squad in Las Vegas.
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Former Bills QB out of a Job After Surprise Release by Raiders