Mario Edwards Jr. placed on Reserve/Injured list, Raiders add two to practice squad

The Oakland Raiders announced today that they have placed Mario Edwards Jr. on the Reserve/Injured list, which will keep him out for the first eight weeks of the season. After that point, the Raiders would have three weeks to activate Edwards for the remainder of the 2016 season. He may return to practice after six weeks.

The initial thoughts following Edwards' hip injury in the Raiders' opening preseason game at Arizona was that it wasn't a serious injury and Edwards may be back for the season opener, but either the Raiders felt it was more serious than was first suspected or they just wanted another roster spot open for the first part of the year. Either way, this opens the door for defensive linemen such as Denico Autry and Darius Latham to make their mark in the absence of Edwards. While Edwards will be difficult to replace, Latham showed flashes of brilliance in the preseason.

The team also has signed two more players to their practice squad. First up is a defensive end from Utah, Jason Fanaika. He has decent size at 6'3" and 270 pounds. Utah's defense had a reputation for being pretty good, and is always full of giant Samoan dudes who are hard to rush against. Fanaika was signed as an UDFA by the 49ers after the draft but was waived by them last week.

The other player signed by Oakland is former Ohio State linebacker Curtis Grant. He's bounced around the league in his one year of pro service, landing with the Chargers, Falcons and Titans. I remember Grant being a pretty good middle linebacker in college and was a big-time recruit out of high school. The talent is definitely there for him.

Check out Oakland's complete practice squad here, compiled by our own Levi Damien. As always, stay tuned to Silver & Black Pride for the latest in Oakland Raiders news.