The Las Vegas Raiders are down to their final roster call. By Sunday, they must cut to 53 players, and that clock is now running after preseason ended with an 18-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
That deadline is why Friday morning matters. Klint Kubiak said by video conference that difficult decisions have to be made, and he framed the next step as part of the normal grind of the game: players get cut, some return on practice squads, and some end up elsewhere before building long careers. The point is not just to trim the roster. It is to decide who stays in place when the games count.
The evaluation is still active because some of the competition has not been settled. Kubiak said there are three guys ready to play, and the team is still discussing who is one and who is two. He also said one player is still on the mend and the Raiders are working to get him back, with another week to assess how he will look going into the first game. That player matters to the plan, and Kubiak made clear the team is counting on him.
The offensive picture was not as clean as the defense. Kubiak said the unit would have loved to finish with three touchdown scoring drives, but it was not satisfied with field goals. He said a player was taking practice to the field and leading the offense, while also noting that two players are going to prepare to play a lot of football and must be ready for all phases. In other words, roles are still being sorted even as the roster gets cut.
There was steadiness on the other side of the ball. Kubiak said he liked how fast the defense started, and said it did a great job on third down and in the red zone. He also said he looks forward to seeing the starters play a full four quarters and then a full game together, which suggests the staff is still waiting for the cleanest version of this group before the first game.
Adam Butler arrived to the preseason home game against the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium, one of the players caught in the same larger calculation. Kubiak said he saw a professional who plays extremely hard and has made plays since arriving, which is the kind of note that lands differently in the final week before the cut.
This is how roster deadlines work in the NFL. The preseason is over, the final evaluation window is open, and every decision now ripples into the first game. For the Raiders, the last question is not whether the cutdown is coming. It is which players survive it and which names end up on the wrong side of Sunday.
