Roster cut day is coming up across the NFL, and many teams are getting ahead of things. The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the teams that are starting to make moves.
According to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson, the Raiders have released fullback/tight end Patrick Gurd.
Gurd joined the Raiders as an undrafted rookie earlier in the offseason after playing college football at Cincinnati. It was always going to be difficult for him to make the active roster. The team signed Connor Heyward in free agency, and he’s going to be the main fullback. Many teams don’t even have one fullback on the roster, so keeping two was out of the question.
Perhaps Gurd could find new life on the practice squad. The Raiders will likely keep many of their undrafted free agents on the practice squad. That said, they may want to keep that spot for a more valuable position.
Klint Kubiak Is Happy With His Roster
This is Klint Kubiak’s first year as a head coach, so this is his first time overseeing a roster. General manager John Spytek is in charge of finding him players, but he’s got a big role in figuring out the final roster.
So far, Kubiak is very happy with the players that he does have and is excited to go to war with them.
“I love our guys. I love how hard they work,” Kubiak told reporters. “I love how mature they are. I love how important the game is to them and how important playing for the Silver and Black is to them. I can’t wait to go on this journey with them for the next 17 weeks in a row.”
Unfortunately, roster cut-down day is one of the worst for coaches. He’s going to have to show a lot of players the door. Kubiak wants those players to know that their dream isn’t dead just because they got cut.
“You develop relationships with these guys since April and they give you their heart and their soul and all their time, and eventually it comes down to this,” Kubiak said.
“But there’s also so many examples of guys that have been cut and make practice squads and make a team, or guys that get claimed by other teams, or guys that get cut five times and make 12-year careers. … You get better and you learn and you fail forward.”
Kubiak Liked What He Saw From Defense vs. 49ers
The Raiders offense has a lot of question marks heading into the season, so it’ll be important for the defense to pick up some slack. The defense looked a little rough the first two games, but played well against the San Francisco 49ers.
Kubiak was pleased with their performance.
“Obviously, I love how fast our defense started and how great of a job they did on third down, in the red zone. I thought our coaches have done an excellent job. I look forward to going and playing these games with our starters for a full four quarters and then playing a full game together.”
Raiders Make First Roster Cut Ahead of Deadline