Mailbag: Which undrafted free agents will make the roster?

The Las Vegas Raiders are wrapping up OTAs this week, and mandatory minicamp starts next week. Then, it’s summer break as the Raiders will put a bow on spring practices and get prepped for training camp. Before that, we’ve got this week’s mailbag to get to, focusing on the young guys on Las Vegas’ roster.

Q: Who are the 2 to 3 UDFA’s that will make this team, and will any of them start or get meaningful snaps this season?

A: With 11 draft picks, I think it’s going to be hard for this year’s undrafted free agents to make the 53-man roster. There will certainly be at least one, maybe two, who earn a spot on the team, but three might be a little ambitious.

That said, there are four undrafted guys that I’ll be keeping an eye on this summer: interior offensive lineman Jarrod Hufford, edge defender Jah Joyner, cornerback Mello Dotson and linebacker Jailin Walker.

Of those guys, I’ll give Dotson and Walker the best chances to make the roster, given how wide open the corner and linebacker positions are for the Raiders. Joyner would be next in line as he can be a good pass-rusher off the bench. I could see Dotson and Walker getting meaningful snaps with the defense’s need at corner and linebacker.

Q: As of today, how many yards does Jack Bech, Dont’e Thornton and Tre Tucker get?

A: Typically, I’m not big on stat predictions, but I’ll give this one a shot.

I’m bullish on Tucker this season, so I’ll say he sets a career-high with 700 yards. Bech will be around 600 yards, which would have been the seventh-most among rookie wide receivers last year. Thornton, 200, since I think he’s more of a project and will have a bigger impact in year two and beyond.

Q: Who’s in the lead for the two guard spots?

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

A: Right now, Alex Cappa and Dylan Parham are getting the first team reps at guard. Based on the reports during OTAs, it seems like Cappa has the best chance to start, and Parham will be battling with Meredith for the other spot. Rookie Caleb Rogers is also in the mix at right guard with Cappa, but Rogers is the biggest longshot of the bunch.

For those who care, that’s not the lineup I’d go with. I’d prefer Meredith and Parham as the starters, but I understand where the coaching staff is coming from with Cappa at this stage. He’s a veteran and has a high football IQ, which is his biggest strength right now. Last year, he was the one making a lot of the protection calls for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Given how young the Raiders are on the interior o-line, especially with a second-year center in Jackson Powers-Johnson, the coaching staff wants Cappa out there to make sure the young guys know what they’re doing. Who knows how long that will last, but I get the logic of having a veteran presence in the trenches.

Q: Do you think John Spytek will give Carroll and the coaches a free hand in deciding whether to start Devin White and Alex Cappa over Amari Gainer or Jordan Meredith? And what chance do you give White and Cappa to bounce back to respectability?

A: Typically, the coaching staff sets the starting lineup. The general manager might step in if a starter isn’t playing well and there’s a young guy behind the starter, but ideally, the coaches make those decisions.

Spytek doesn’t strike me as someone who would try to step on Carroll’s toes and would defer to Carroll when it comes to those decisions, especially considering the vastly different years of experience those two have. If the Raiders had a young head coach, then things might be different.

So, starting White and Cappa over Gainer and Meredith, or vice versa, will ultimately be the head coach’s call. Personally, I think Cappa could bounce back to be a servicable starter, though I’m not holding my breath on that, but I’m less confident in White.

Marcus and I recently broke down both players on Tape Don’t Lie, and Cappa could at least get a good initial push on blocks last season; he just struggled to sustain blocks and would often lose later in the rep to give up tackles and sacks.

Meanwhile, White is more of a role player as a third-down linebacker who can get pressure as an off-ball blitzer and be decent in zone coverage. However, I don’t trust him outside of those two areas.

Q: With Pete Carroll as the head coach, will the Raiders run more man or zone secondary?

A: Carroll’s scheme is kind of a hybrid between zone and man coverage. He uses a lot of zone or pattern match concepts, which at a high level, is essentially man coverage with more rules.

For example, an outside corner will be responsible for the wide receiver he’s lined up across from if the receiver’s route is more than 10 yards, rather than being responsible for the wideout regardless of the route (man coverage) or a specific area of the field (zone coverage).

That type of coverage has become pretty common in the NFL over the last few years because it has more answers to offenses’ route concepts than traditional man or zone coverage. The rules help avoid things like pick routes, and the man coverage aspects minimize the soft spots that a traditional zone coverage has.

Vic Fangio made the zone and pattern match coverages popular, and Fangio has a lot of disciples around the league that have spread the system. Carroll dipped into that coaching tree toward the end of his tenure with the Seahawks, hiring Clint Hurtt and Sean Desai, who worked for Fangio in Chicago.

A: No one has, and no one will, explicitly state what running scheme Chip Kelly is going to lean for strategic purposes. Kelly was known for using a lot of zone runs when he was gaining popularity at Oregon and with the Eagles. However, he’s incorporated a lot more gap concepts into his offense recently.

One of the biggest lessons Kelly learned in Philadelphia, especially with DeMarco Murray, was that he can’t force players to fit into his scheme and needs to make adjustments based on his players’ skill sets. So, I think the Raiders’ offense and running game will be flexible this year and a mix of both concepts.

Q: How’s Darien Porter looking? Will he start?

A: For the record, I’m not at OTAs, so I don’t have any info on how the practices have been going outside of what’s reported by others.

But, to answer the second question, Porter might begin the season as a backup because his technique still needs some work. However, I expect him to get a few starts at some point in 2025, which might not happen until the second half of the year, though.

Q: With the Raiders’ lack of talent at receiver and defensive back, are the Raiders looking to make any trades before the season?

A: Trade, probably not, especially at wide receiver. I think it’s much more likely that the front office signs someone rather than make a trade and give up future draft picks. While the messaging has been that the new regime wants to win now, and I think that’s genuine, I don’t get the sense that they’re willing to mortgage the future for this season.

The trade for Geno Smith was one thing because it stabilizes the most important position on the field, and all it cost was one of two third-round picks (at the time). Plus, there are decent wide receiver options still available in free agency, like Amari Cooper and Keenan Allen.

And—time for our weekly tradition—can I interest anyone in Mike Hilton at nickel?

A: MIKE HILTON!!!!!!

Mailbag diehards will understand where I’m coming from, lol!

A: Running back: Nick Chubb (after passing a physical), and I wouldn’t mind bringing Ameer Abdullah back.

Cornerback: I think everyone knows my stance by now…

Linebacker: C.J. Mosley is interesting, but I get the feeling his injuries and age—turns 33 in a couple of weeks—are the reason he’s unsigned, which is a major red flag. Kyzir White would be worth kicking the tires on.

Wide receiver: Cooper and Allen.

Guard: Dalton Risner is interesting because he’s been a good player on the field, but there’s got to be some sort of locker room issue with him. Despite playing well, Risner hasn’t been able to get a long-term contract from two teams now. That makes me cautious of bringing him in.

How much? Cheap, one-year deals. Low risk.

A: I had the Raiders winning nine games in my way-too-early record prediction, so 10 wins is certainly attainable. In my opinion, that feels like the ceiling, though. I think the team will be a lot better than last season—they can’t get much worse—but it might take a while for all the new players to gel with each other.

Plus, Las Vegas is likely going to be relying on a lot of young players at key spots this season, which could lead to a slow start. And, on paper at least, five out of the last six games on the schedule are brutal: at Chargers, vs Broncos, at Eagles, at Texans and vs Chiefs.

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays. Sign up and go to the comments section.