The Raiders have been busy in the last couple days following the first wave of NFL roster cuts. They signed punt return specialist Roscoe Parrish yesterday and today they claimed cornerback Coye Francies who was waived by the Seattle Seahawks.
Francies adds some competition to a group that has very little in the way of depth. Outside of the two starters, Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer, there is no surefire corner. It was expected the team would look to the roster cuts to try and bulk up the position.
The acquisition of Francies doesn't solve any issues. He has plenty of his own. But the team has not been happy with the guys they currently have competing for a backup spot so getting the third year corner gives them a fresh face to try and offer a better option.
As I said, Francies has his issues. He is certainly well traveled. He was originally a JuCo transfer at Oregon State but was cut from the team because of a gun charge. After a year sitting out, He transferred to San Jose State and played his way into notoriety as a top NFL prospect. In just about every draft publication, he was listed as a second round talent in the 2009 draft. But that didn't happen that way.
He ran a subpar 40-yard dash (4.63) and combined with some character red flags and he fell all the way to the sixth round where the Browns took a chance on him. In his first rookie camp, he already started to show the character concerns teams had of him coming out of college.
He was hazed by some of his veteran teammates who gave him an ice water bath. He got angry and stormed into the locker room with a Gatorade bucket filled with ice an sprayed it around at the defensive backs and then came at Abe Elam and took a swing at him before he was grabbed by several others and led out of the locker room.
He spent one full season in Cleveland and didn't make the 53-man roster the following season. He was out of the NFL in 2011 and played for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL. He was later signed to the Seahawks offseason roster. That's three college teams, three NFL teams and one UFL team.
The former San Jose State Spartan was born in Bakersfield and grew up in Sacramento California so becoming a Raider is a homecoming for him. Although there is no guarantee he will make this team.
Reports have the Raiders waiving undrafted free agent cornerback Conroy Black to make room for Francies on the roster. The team is expected to officially announce the move Wednesday morning.
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