The Raiders cut their roster down to 54 players on Tuesday (with a Josh Jacobs roster exemption) and in the process, made a few surprising moves. One was the release of Alex Bars, who started 15 games for the Raiders last season at right guard.
Another was waiving defensive tackle Matthew Butler, who was a fifth-round pick by the Raiders a year ago. Both of those moves raised some eyebrows, but neither was as shocking as the trade that the Raiders made with a divisional rival.
In a recent article by ESPN, they named some of the most surprising moves that happened on Tuesday. One of which was the rare intra-division trade that sent second-year defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr. to the Chiefs for a late-round selection.
Trading defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr. to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs for a sixth-round pick. Sending him to a division rival is one thing, but giving up on the third player the regime of GM Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels had drafted for Las Vegas is another.
Plus, D-tackle was a big need for the Raiders last year. But after playing just 158 snaps over nine games as a rookie and finishing with 12 tackles (three solo) with two QB hits and 1.5 stuffs, the former fourth-round pick opened training camp on the Non-Football Injury list. Farrell simply fell too far behind in a crowded DT room.
The Raiders moved on from their two young defensive tackles (Farrell Jr. and Butler) are are left with some aging players at that spot. It’s easily the biggest weakness on the team moving forward and that’s been the case for a few years now.
We shall see if the Raiders make a move for a young defensive tackle in the upcoming days, but that’s a position that the front office needs to address sooner rather than later.