Meanwhile, S&BP\u2019s Bill Williamson listed three other edges<\/a>\u2014UDFA Cian Slone and veterans Patrick Johnson and Jahfari Harvey\u2014as players to watch against San Francisco, and all three have outperformed Crawford this month. Again, the third-rounder\u2019s roster spot should be safe, but he\u2019s looking at getting buried on the depth chart if he doesn\u2019t step up on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Klint Kubiak didn\u2019t mince words when talking about the team\u2019s wide receivers after last week\u2019s game, saying \u201cthey gotta get a lot better and fast<\/a>\u201d. The coaching staff is clearly looking for someone to step up and provide some depth out wide, giving Williams an opportunity to earn a roster spot with a strong outing against the 49ers. He had a 41-yard catch a couple of weeks ago, but hauled in just one grab for six yards in Houston.<\/p>\n Granted, the Indiana product hasn\u2019t had many opportunities with just 13 offensive snaps in both games combined, per PFF<\/a>. But the final preseason game is typically where players on the bubble get the most action, meaning Williams should have plenty of chances to prove himself. He and fellow UDFA wide receiver Chase Roberts, who also could be listed here, did get a shoutout from Kubiak after the Cardinals matchup<\/a> to seemingly increase their odds of making the team.<\/p>\n LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 13: Roman Hemby #37 of the Las Vegas Raiders runs the ball against the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth quarter of the preseason game at Allegiant Stadium on August 13, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Maule\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n With uncertainty surrounding the extent of Ashton Jeanty\u2019s injury and thus whether he\u2019ll be ready to play at the beginning of the regular season, an extra roster spot for a running back could be open. Hemby has an uphill battle to beat out Dylan Laube and Dare Ogunbowale<\/a>, since those two have outproduced him in the preseason so far. But the former Hoosier still has a fighter\u2019s chance with a big performance on Thursday night. Even if he\u2019s headed to the practice squad, Hemby could use a confidence booster to show he belongs in the NFL.<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s chances of making the roster took a nose dive last week after the Raiders signed Folorunso Fatukasi and Fatukasi played well against the Houston Texans. But the defense could use more than just one quality run defender on the interior defensive line, and the unit should be looking for a young player at the position who can provide some future value. That gives the 24-year-old UCLA product a glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n Smith had a good outing last week, recording a pair of run stops on just eight snaps against the run, per PFF<\/a>. He\u2019s also second behind Fatukasi for the best PFF run defense grade among Vegas\u2019 defensive tackles in the preseason with a 69.9 mark<\/a>. Ultimately, the former Bruin will likely begin the regular season on the practice squad, but he does have one more opportunity to prove himself.<\/p>\n Sorey is another guy who looks like a long shot to make the 53-man roster, partially because he only received 24 defensive snaps<\/a> in the first two preseason games combined. So, this Thursday night is more about showing what he can do on a larger sample size. One way to do that is to make plays on special teams, and the Arkansas product hasn\u2019t gotten many opportunities in that phase of the game either, with just five special teams snaps and one of those coming on a field goal block, according to PFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n In other words, the 49ers matchup should be Sorey\u2019s best chance to show the coaching staff what he can contribute in a game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders are set to play their final preseason game, facing off against the San Francisco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[148590,97455,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-445336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-las-vegas-raiders-preseason","tag-las-vegas-raiders-roster","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Roman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gettyimages-2290500743.jpg\"\/)
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