Getty Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
The Las Vegas Raiders have been busy making moves on their offensive line recently. The team just recently signed Patrick Omameh and added a couple of undrafted free agents along the offensive line. To make room for the new guys, the team has moved on from an undrafted free agent from last year’s glass.
According to the Raiders’ transaction page, offensive guard Kamaal Seymour has been waived. The former Rutgers standout was revealed to have suffered a non-football injury. Per Vic Tafur of The Athletic, Seymour was actually looking good before suffering an Achilles injury.
#Raiders waived guard Kamaal Seymour with a non-football injury. Rutgers product was starting to make a name for himself before Achilles injury.
It’s a shame if Seymour was looking at a potential spot on the roster or practice squad had he not gotten injured. The Raiders have a lot of opportunity on their offensive line this year with so many moving pieces. There figures to be a few young guys who make the squad. Depending on the severity of the Achillies injury, Seymour could be out for the year. Perhaps the Raiders give him another shot when he gets healthy.
ALL the latest Raiders news straight to your inbox! Subscribe to the Heavy on Raiders newsletter here!
Raiders Sign Alex Leatherwood
In other Raiders offensive line news, the team officially inked first-round pick Alex Leatherwood to a contract. According to Spotrac, the deal is for four years at $14.39 million.
We have signed first-round draft pick Alex Leatherwood.
More » t.co/R0GowR3ago
It’s good that the Raiders got Leatherwood locked up quickly so he doesn’t miss any offseason workouts. The plan is for him to start Week 1 so he’s got a lot of work to put in. Rookie offensive linemen can often struggle as the Raiders are familiar with. Kolton Miller was a disaster as a rookie but has developed into a good player.
Were Ravens Gunning for Leatherwood?
When the Raiders selected Leatherwood in the first round, nobody saw it coming. It was widely perceived that he’d be a second-round pick at the earliest. However, the media could have been off base with their evaluation of the tackle. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Las Vegas believed that the Baltimore Ravens would’ve selected Leatherwood with the 31st overall pick.
If they truly believed that, it makes sense why they’d reach to get the guy they wanted. That said, NFL insider Peter King believes the Raiders got bad intel.
“I’d say this in response to the Raiders’ belief that the Ravens were laying in wait for tackle Alex Leatherwood to get past mid-first-round so Baltimore could pick the Alabama tackle late in round one: My belief is the Ravens had a round-three grade on Leatherwood. So they’d never have considered him late in the first,” King wrote in his Football Morning in America column recently.
If the Raiders were fed bad intel, that’s not great and doesn’t help the narrative that Leatherwood was a massive reach. King is a well-connected source but there are multiple insiders who have offered conflicting information. According to Jim Nagy and Benjamin Allbright, Leatherwood would not have gotten out of the first round.
Regardless, the Raiders made their decision and have to live with it.
READ NEXT: Raiders WR Issues Strong Response to Dez Bryant Claim