Raiders’ Spytek Adds New Offensive Weapon Ahead of Houston Trip

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders are headed to Houston, Texas, tomorrow afternoon to take on the Texans in a preseason tilt on Thursday, and a joint practice on Tuesday.

But they aren’t sitting around waiting for the trip.

After adding defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi yesterday, they made another move moments ago.

John Spytek, Mark Davis | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

GM John Spytek is as aware as anyone that while there is a lot of young talent on this team, the wide receiver room is far from settled.

Spyteking

The term "Spyteking" came about because the Raiders' GM is unwilling to rest or take a break. He is going to constantly turn over his roster, looking for any chance to improve it.

Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek, and minority owner Tom Brady | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Moments ago, the team signed veteran National Football League wide receiver Noah Brown.

Brown is entering his ninth season in the league; the Dallas Cowboys selected him in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. The 6-2, 225-pound Ohio State Buckeye has played in 91 career games. In that span, he has garnered 38 starts and has accumulated 155 receptions and six touchdowns.

Kubiak Was Clear

After practice today, Klint Kubiak made it clear the team has to get better, and he didn’t mince any words when breaking down the loss this past Thursday.

"Just as a team, we've got to improve. There's a lot of improvement, offense, defense, special teams. There's things that I liked, there's things where we've got to get better. We put a lot of time into that yesterday, and we all know again it is our fourth week of training camp. We are a team that's still gelling together."

What This Means

The Raiders are in the midst of a youth movement. While not by human-life standards, the nine-year journeyman doesn’t fit the resume of a youth-oriented, rebuilding Raiders team.

That is not to say that he doesn’t have a chance to make this team. Brown's key will be to show off an impressive skill set on special teams and make a strong contribution in the passing game.

Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

That is his route to the 53-man roster, and it will be a difficult one.

Who Did the Raiders Release?

The defensive tackles were less than stellar as a unit on Thursday, and I have reported both before camp began and since it started that I don’t think that group is settled, far from it.

So, to make room for Brown, they released Benito Jones, who has been less than stellar since arriving.

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