{"id":651943,"date":"2026-05-19T07:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/651943\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T07:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:39:10","slug":"raiders-5-undrafted-free-agents-with-best-chance-to-53-man-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/651943\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders: 5 Undrafted Free Agents with best chance to 53-man roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even after making 10 selections during the 2026 NFL draft<\/a>, general manager John Spytek was busy adding 17 undrafted free agents<\/a> to the roster. Of course, the Raiders are a long way away from having to settle in on a 53-man roster<\/a>, but let\u2019s take an early look at a few UDFAs who have a good chance to make the cut, considering who is in front of them on the depth chart.<\/p>\n

Wide receiver is one of the biggest remaining holes on Las Vegas\u2019 roster<\/a> after the draft. Many expected the club to prioritize the position, but Spytek didn\u2019t add a wideout until the sixth round (Malik Benson). That gives any receiver on the roster a fighter\u2019s chance to make the team during training camp, especially a UDFA who caught passes from Fernando Mendoza last season. Williams managed to haul in 36 receptions for 438 yards and six touchdowns<\/a> last season, and the 6-foot-3, 205-pound receiver has the frame to fill the void at \u2018X\u2019 potentially.<\/p>\n

Along the same lines, Roberts stands at 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds. He doesn\u2019t have the immediate chemistry with Mendoza, but the BYU product is the better prospect and was more productive than Williams, giving him a leg up if the competition is between the two of them. Roberts had 54 grabs, 802 yards and six touchdowns<\/a> for the Cougars last season.<\/p>\n

Another former Hoosier who could find a home in Las Vegas. Hemby toted the rock 230 times and racked up 1,118 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns<\/a> to be the National Champions\u2019 leading rusher, ahead of San Francisco 49ers\u2019 third-round pick Kaelon Black. Meanwhile, the Raiders have their first two backs in the fold with Ashton Jeanty and fourth-round pick Mike Washington Jr., but the third spot is very much up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Hemby will have to beat out Dylan Laube and Chris Collier, and special teams could be the deciding factor, especially since Laube can contribute as a returner. The Indiana product doesn\u2019t have much return experience, but he did return 16 kickoffs<\/a> in college, including nine last season.<\/p>\n

Defensively, one of the biggest surprises from the Raiders\u2019 draft was that they didn\u2019t prioritize adding a nose tackle, as Spytek didn\u2019t take a defensive tackle until his last pick of the draft (Brandon Cleveland). That\u2019s good news for Smith, who ranked fourth among Big Ten defensive tackles with an 82.3 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus<\/a> last season. The 6-foot-1, 323-pound d-lineman also finished third with 24 \u201cdefensive stops<\/a>\u201d against the run in 2025.<\/p>\n

The front office moved on from Daniel Carlson this offseason, replacing Carlson with Matt Gay during free agency. However, Gay made just 73.9 percent<\/a> of his field goal attempts last season and was in the low 80s during the 2024 and 2023 campaigns. That leaves the door open for Matsuzawa, who hit 93.1 percent of his field goals<\/a> this past fall. Plus, an elite nickname like \u2018The Tokoyo Toe\u2019 has to count for something, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even after making 10 selections during the 2026 NFL draft, general manager John Spytek was busy adding 17…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[72260,349,99],"class_list":["post-651943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-las-vegas-raiders-roster","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}