The Las Vegas Raiders just hit young defensive tackle Byron Young with some tough news. The former third-round pick initially made the team’s 53-man roster at the August 28 deadline but they decided to pivot in less than 24 hours.
The Raiders announced that they’re waiving Young in an August 28 X post.
We have claimed DT Jonah Laulu and S Thomas Harper via waivers, waived DT Byron Young and CB M.J. Devonshire, and placed CB Brandon Facyson on the Reserved/Injured list.
Young is being let go just a year after he was a third-round pick. However, he was on the hot seat considering he was drafted by general manager Tom Telesco, who is no longer with the team. The defensive tackle failed to show the Raiders much since being drafted.
He played in six games last season just four tackles without any other notable statistical contributions. He did have a sack in the preseason but also had a lot of really ugly reps. Young was just one of the many whiffs Ziegler made when drafting defensive linemen along with Matthew Butler (practice squad) and Neil Farrell Jr. (traded last year). That’s not even mentioning former first-round pick Tyree Wilson, who has not shown the team much.
Young will be a candidate to get back on the practice squad. He’s just a year removed from being a third-round pick so the Raiders could try to recoup some value from him by letting him develop on the practice squad.
Brandon Facyson to IR
Perhaps the even more notable news is that cornerback Brandon Facyson is headed to Injured Reserve. He was supposed to compete for a starting job but has been out for weeks with an undisclosed injury.
The Raiders were already thin at cornerback and this just makes them thinner. The team will almost certainly be in the market for a veteran cornerback. They are far too young at the position right now. Jack Jones is the oldest active cornerback on the roster and he’s only 26.
The Raiders could scour the free agent market for a cornerback. Adoree’ Jackson remains a free agent and he previously played under defensive coordinator Patrick Graham when they were both with the New York Giants. With Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers closing in, a cornerback who understands the defensive system would be a logical addition.
Tom Telesco Talks Roster’s Youth
The Raiders are set to have a very young roster this season. According to Raiders.com, the average age of offensive players is 26.4 while the defense is 24.9. Las Vegas’ defense is among the youngest in the NFL but the average of every player is 25.92, which is the 12th youngest in the NFL, per Philly Voice. Telesco expects to keep working the roster and isn’t concerned with how young the team is right now.
“[A] lot of these guys aren’t going to have big roles this year, but they may have a small role,” Telesco said during an August 27 press conference. “And who knows, as we get later into the year, when we get past Halloween and get toward Thanksgiving where they’re not really rookies anymore and they may take on a bigger role.
“But it’s really important, especially in a salary cap world, to have a good base of young players coming up through your system. … It’s just a starting point of where they are, not close to where the end point is, but this is where we are right now.”
