The roster Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek was able to put together to open his second season on the job is far more representative of his vision for the organization than the one that took the field for Week 1 a year ago.
But it’s still a work in progress.
“We made a lot of hard choices,” Spytek said of Sunday’s roster cutdown day. “And we’ve got a long way to go, a lot of work to do with a young roster. But I think we’re all excited to go over the next week and a half and get a chance to play the Dolphins.”
Spytek said the goal is to be constantly improving the roster, be it through trades, waiver claims, free agency or the draft.
There is a long-term vision in place and constructing this roster was just the next step in that process.
“This is a collective effort by so many people in this building to bring the right kind of person in,” he said. ‘I count on (assistant general manager Brian Stark) and everybody upstairs, second floor, the first floor. I think that we have a plan in place. We were very intentional about it; we know what we’re looking for. We know what we will not compromise on. We know the standard that we have to uphold. That requirement is due every day. We have to remind ourselves of the guys that we will take, the guys that we won’t take, and we are committed to building this the right way with the right people, so that when we do have success, we can sustain it.”
The next step, according to Spytek, is simply to stack positive days as much as possible. The Raiders are not expected to win many games, but will need to start getting significantly better in 2027 or else doubts will start to emerge about yet another administration with the Raiders.
Spytek said that will just require everyone from him, his staff, the coaches and players and everyone in the building to just do all the little things that make winning organizations successful.
“Where do you begin? The chicken or the egg?” he asked. ”It’s just constantly getting better every day. For us, it’s stacking good decisions every day. It might feel boring. It might feel meticulous, but I think that’s where you lay a quality foundation, and you can set yourself up to be in the right spot.”
Here are some other observations from his post-cutdown day news conference on Tuesday:
No definitive word on Jeanty
Spytek toed the company line as it relates to the ankle injury suffered by star running back Ashton Jeanty last week, quoting coach Klint Kubiak’s words that Jeanty is “on the mend.”
“I expect him to be back as quick as he can, maybe quicker than some people would expect,” said Spytek, who praised Jeanty’s dedication to the rehab process. “When that is, we’ll see. But I think he’s in a good spot, and I think he’ll be ready to go when we get him back out there.”
O’Connell’s earns keep
Spytek said the decision to keep Aidan O’Connell as a third quarterback, at the expense of another player at another position, came down to the veteran simply earning a place on the roster with a strong offseason and a game-winning drive against the Houston Texans in a preseason game.
“I also don’t think you can have enough good quarterbacks,” Spytek said. “We saw some teams keep four.”
Spytek declined to say whether he received any calls about potential trades for O’Connell from backup-needy teams.
“But we got a lot of calls on a lot of players and we’re happy Aidan is here,” Spytek said.
Luter brings experience
Stark said one of the major factors in the Raiders placing a claim on the former 49ers cornerback was the NFL experience he can bring to a young cornerback room that is short on time accrued in the league.
The move made sense, but there was some surprise he was the only player the Raiders chose to use their top waiver priority to acquire.
Spytek said the front office had compiled over 1,000 reports on all the players competing on NFL rosters in the preseason, but none of the other players waived around the league fit their needs better than those already on the Raiders roster.
“We’d all love to look there and think that you’re going to get a million good players, but the other teams are pretty good at knowing who to keep and knowing how to build their teams too,” Spytek said. “We had a very thorough process that ultimately led us to claim Darrell.”
Confidence in WRs
Spytek said he was aware of Kubiak’s comments about the struggles of the wide receiver room after the trip to Houston, but still has confidence in the group.
“We have a young room,” he said. “I think the oldest guy in there is 27 years old, and so there’s a lot of growth potential in that room still. Even though some of the guys have played quite a bit of football, and we’re committed to building the best team possible, and I respect those guys in that room with the way they work, and they know, and every position group knows that they have to bring their best every day, and they’ve got to do what’s asked of them.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
