Las Vegas Raiders made a pre-training camp move that they hoped would never have to happen
The Las Vegas Raiders need to have all hands on deck for their 2025 season. Pete Carroll, the former Seattle Seahawks head coach who was hired as the Raiders' new head coach, has said this is not a rebuild — they're going to compete right away. In 2024, the Raiders dealt with some of the […]
The Las Vegas Raiders need to have all hands on deck for their 2025 season. Pete Carroll, the former Seattle Seahawks head coach who was hired as the Raiders' new head coach, has said this is not a rebuild — they're going to compete right away.
In 2024, the Raiders dealt with some of the worst injuries in the league. Davante Adams, Maxx Crosby, Jakorian Bennett, Kolton Miller, Marcus Epps, Christian Wilkins, Malcom Koonce, and so many others missed time last year, or the whole year. And, those guys I just listed were all either the best player at their position, or a very key role player.
The Raiders managed to win four games, and even that was a surprise, especially when you watched the offense every single week. 2025 is a season where the Raiders are already better on paper; they're healthy, for the most part, and their coaching should be better. Better than four wins won't be hard. But getting to the postseason will be.
So, yes, they need all hands on deck. But, to start training camp, in which the Raiders rookies reported to on Thursday, they will be without one of their best players.
Raiders' major injury news
On Friday, the Raiders decided to make a roster move. This move freed up one more opportunity to bring another player on at training camp for a possible tryout. But, it also means that one key player, and one of the best players on the roster, will be out for a bit of training camp.
And, honestly, with the way things are sounding, he could be out for some of the actual season.
According to the Raiders PR team, the team placed defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on the PUP list, or the Physically Unable to Perform list. So, he's not allowed to do any team activities, just whatever his rehab and therapy are.
And that can hurt this team. We've seen players miss training camps, and they usually don't have that great of a year, or that great of a start to the season. Look at Kolton Miller last season, and his start to the year after missing most of training camp.
The Raiders did draft two defensive tackles, though, in Tonka Hemingway and J.J. Pegues. So, maybe they were prepared for this.
Las Vegas Raiders’ new defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway doesn’t hold back while talking about his game
The Raiders have to love his honesty.
