For the Las Vegas Raiders, most of the focus lately has been on their shiny new future quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, who led the Inidana Hoosiers to a national title against the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night.
The Raiders have already inked 12 players to reserve/future contracts, which is standard practice around the league, but they still have some significant free agents who need attention, according to Ray Aspuria of Silver and Black Pride.
GM John Spytek knows it, and he learned the hard way what happens when you ignore good players.
“And, yeah, we don’t want to let good players leave our building. That’s happened around here,” Spytek said. “I was in charge last year when a couple good players left the building. And it’s one of the things I learned, you got to keep our good players here.”
That said, here are the ones who matter most, along with some thoughts about whether they merit a return.
Eric Stokes, cornerback
Stokes is usually the first name to pop up when the conversation turns to free agents who should be retained. He wasn’t great, but Stokes was good in a bad situation, and he had moments where he was even better than that.
He started 16 games for the first time in his career, and according to Pro Football Reference as allowing 34 catches on 60 targets--a 56.7 percent completion rate--for 329 yards and one touchdown. He also held opposing quarterbacks to a 77.7 rating when they were throwing his way, and Stokes also had five pass deflections to go with 53 total tackles, three for a loss.
Devin White, linebacker
White was signed based on the recommendation of GM John Spytek, who originally drafted the linebacke back in 2019 when he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneer. White’s a tough player to evaluate. He set franchise record with 174 total tackles, 11 for a loss, and White also had 2.5 sacks, one interception, three pass deflections, and a forced fumble.
He was picked on in coverage, however. Opposing quarterbacks got 70 completions on 91 targets, and those completions resulted in 475 yards and three touchdowns while posting a 94.3 rating, He’s still worth keeping around, but whatever money number the Raiders choose should reflect those splits.
Daniel Carlson, kicker
Kickers come and go, and Carlson had a down year, but he’ll likely be staying due to the coaching chaos that led led to the special teams coordinator being fired in midseason. He went 22-of-27 with an 81.5 percent field goal percentage, which was the third lowest of his career, so the Raiders will need to bring serious competition to camp. Carlson will be a cut candidate if he underperforms, but he's been reliable, so he deserves another chance.