Raiders are being very cautious after a situation at training camp could have had Vegas being in a league-wide trend no one wants to be a part of
The Las Vegas Raiders had an injury scare on Day 3 of training camp with defensive lineman Kwity Paye.
The Las Vegas Raiders had a bit of a scare on Friday during training camp. Day 3 featured a bit of team periods. And it featured an injury that the Raiders ended up taking extra precautions over.
Free agent acquisition defensive end Kwity Paye was seen leaving practice early with a trainer. He appears to be okay, and the Raiders wanted to keep it precautionary.
“He is. Yeah, we’re trying to be smart this time; guys get little nicks there. We want to make sure that we get him to this full padded day, so we’re being smart,” head coach Klint Kubiak said after practice.
This is very smart, especially with everything we have seen this week alone across the league. Guys are getting hurt left and right on the first days of training camp. Many of those injuries have been significant, causing players to miss significant time. Some have been injuries that have ended players’ seasons before they even had a chance to get started.
Paye is going to be a very vital part of this defense, especially in the run game. They need him this year, and the Raiders don’t want to be a part of an unfortunate trend around the NFL. It appears everything is good, and the team is taking the right steps with situations like these.
Kwity Paye’s injury at training camp allowed the Raiders to test their depth
According to Sam Warren of The Athletic, Malcolm Koonce worked opposite Maxx Crosby on the edge after Paye’s injury. He took his spot and actually did very well. Warren reported that Koonce got pressure a few times on DJ Glaze, including a probable sack of Kirk Cousins. The Raiders may still have a depth problem in the edge room.
Outside of Crosby and Paye, they only have two other guys who could really come in and play meaningful snaps. Koonce is one, who has started for the Raiders in a handful of games and even had a very good season before the ACL injury. Then it’s rookie Keyron Crawford. What if Crosby were to go down with an injury again, or even Paye? They would be screwed.
The players behind the two backups we just mentioned are all potential practice squad guys or guys who haven’t played much football. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the room could certainly use some help. And there are a few veteran guys who the Raiders could sign. Leonard Floyd, Joey Bosa, Von Miller, Denico Autry, Bilal Nichols, and Hassan Reddick are a few names that come to mind.
Maybe Vegas makes a move, but it’s likely they don’t. They don’t have a ton of money left after signing their rookie draft class. And they don’t need to make a huge, splashy move when this team won’t really be competing for even a postseason spot. Regardless, this injury from Paye, which doesn’t appear to be terrible, should open some eyes on the issue.