Getty Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood.
Prior to the 4 p.m. Eastern Time roster cutdown deadline on Tuesday, August 30, many NFL teams we trying to not only cut players from their rosters but trade them to other teams to get compensation in return for their services.
That’s why the Las Vegas Raiders placed a call to the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of the cutdown deadline regarding Las Vegas’ 2021 first-round pick.
The Raiders made a surprising move on Tuesday by waiving second-year offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood. Leatherwood was the 17th overall pick for the Raiders in 2021, but the new regime in Las Vegas this season apparently doesn’t believe he’s good enough to be one of the 53 players on their regular season roster in 2022.
On top of that, the Raiders actually tried to trade Leatherwood to every other team in the league with no success, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport on August 30.
This means that Las Vegas placed a call to the Chiefs — who are in need of help at right tackle — and Kansas City rejected whatever offer the Raiders put on the table involving Leatherwood.
Leatherwood played a majority of his snaps as a full-time starter during the 2021 season at right guard (847) but did play at right tackle as well (257), according to PFF. Regardless of the position, Leatherwood struggled, however.
Could Chiefs Pounce on Reclamation Project?
Leatherwood allowed 17 quarterback hits, 8 sacks, and logged 14 penalties in 17 regular season games during the 2021 season, per PFF. That type of poor play along with struggling this preseason is likely why teams refrained from giving up compensation to acquire Leatherwood’s services from Las Vegas.
With the 2021 first-rounder now heading to waivers, it’s possible Kansas City could tinker with the idea of bringing Leatherwood in and reviving his young NFL career as a right tackle. He could compete with veteran Andrew Wylie — who is the Chiefs’ starting right tackle heading into the regular season — and Lucas Niang when he returns from the Reserve/PUP list.
Ultimately, the Chiefs should wait and see if Leatherwood clears waivers first before they try to bring him in.
Twitter Reacts to Raiders Releasing Leatherwood
Twitter users reacted to the Raiders releasing Leatherwood.
“Leatherwood was pretty disastrous as a first-round pick, but a team with a good OL coach could find an interesting project/depth with him. There are positives to his game,” Sam Monson of PFF wrote.
“Since this is a post-June 1 release, it’ll cost the #Raiders $7.86M in cap space this year and $3.91M in cap space next year,” Tashan Reed of The Athletic wrote. “That’s a pretty big blow, but Leatherwood clearly wasn’t in their plans moving forward.”
“It was a big surprise on draft day when Leatherwood was a top-25 pick. But still surprising that he couldn’t earn a roster spot, even with a new GM/HC,” Dane Brugler of The Athletic wrote.
“Leatherwood conceded more total pressures than any other player in the NFL last season,” Ollie Connolly of Gridiron wrote. “He was the worst starting tackle in the league at beginning of the year… so the Raiders kicked him inside… where he went on to be one the league’s poorest guards. A brutal pick.”