Tuesday the Raiders made undrafted linebacker Drake Thomas one of the players they waived to get down to 53 players. The hope being that they could get him back on the practice squad.
They never got that chance.
The moment Thomas came available, the Seahawks nabbed him off waivers, signing him to the active roster.
It was a risk the Raiders were taking and one that backfired.
Thomas showed up very well in preseason action, which got the attention of the Seahawks. Here Marcus Johnson put some clips together of Thomas against Seahawks division rival LA Rams a couple weeks ago.
Drake Thomas #57 is definitely making his case to sneak onto the roster. He was all over the field last Saturday. pic.twitter.com/KX8wiR26Wq
— Marcus Johnson (@TheMarcJohnNFL) August 21, 2023
Thomas led the Raiders with 10 tackles in that game. By a wide margin. No other Raiders defender had half as many tackles. The closest being LB Amari Burney with four tackles.
Burney was kept on the roster over Thomas for what seems like no other discernible reason than Burney was drafted and Thomas was not.
