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Cutdown day was full of surprising moves by the Las Vegas Raiders. Former first-round pick Alex Leatherwood was cut while former second-round pick Trayvon Mullen was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. Those were the most notable moves to happen as the rest of the cuts were mostly expected.
Luckily for the Raiders, they were able to retain a number of players they liked from training camp. The team announced the signing of 14 players to their practice squad – all of which were on the roster during training camp.
Among the signings were two wide receivers Dillon Stoner and Isaiah Zuber. Stoner was brought in by the previous regime as an undrafted free agent. He impressed the previous coaching staff and it appears he’s shown enough to the new one to earn a spot. Zuber was a member of the New England Patriots briefly in 2020 so he’s familiar with head coach Josh McDaniels’ system. He recently made noise in the Raiders’ last preseason game against the Patriots when he caught a reception and interception in the same game. He’s a versatile piece for Las Vegas to have on the practice squad.
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Bam Olaseni Doesn’t Last Long
Rookie offensive lineman Bam Olaseni was among the first practice squad signings. He’s a very raw player but the Raiders liked his potential. However, his stint on the practice squad was short-lived. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Olaseni has been cut from the practice squad.
Olaseni has great size at 6-foot-7, 339 pounds but he has much work to do before he’ll be ready to step on an NFL field. The Raiders liked him but it was hard to justify keeping him on the practice squad when he has so much work to do.
The team has replaced Olaseni with another rookie Vitaliy Gurman. The rookie offensive lineman out of Toledo spent training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs.
DJ Turner Was Nervous About Cutdown Day
One player who was certainly on the bubble heading towards cutdown day was wide receiver DJ Turner. He was with the team last season and has really impressed the new coaching staff. The exciting part for him is that he doesn’t even have to go to the practice squad. He’s on the active roster and will be playing regular season games. Despite the quick rise, Turner was very nervous on cut day.
“I just kind of tried to stay off my phone. I made sure it wasn’t on silent, just in case it does ring I’d be there to pick it up,” Turner said of the day prior to cutdown day. “But I just tried to occupy myself with anything else to be honest and tried to keep my mind off of it. Like I had my kids at home, just trying to play with them until I had to come to the facility.”
“I came into building to do a walk thru and to do a lift, and I was just nervously walking around,” Turner added. “You never know if somebody’s going to call you, grab you at any point.”
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