Raiders roster cut: Gabe Holmes reportedly waived

The first reported Raiders cut ahead of Saturday’s final roster cutdown deadline is tight end Gabe Holmes according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post.

The former undrafted tight end was in his third training camp and preseason with the Raiders. As a raw former basketball player, he spent his rookie year on the Raiders’ practice squad, getting called up late in the season to avoid having him signed by another team.

After another offseason with the team, he landed on injured reserve all last year. Another full offseason, training camp, and preseason and he had yet to breakout and show the potential the initially Raiders saw in him coming out of Purdue in 2015.

There is still always a chance he could be back on the practice squad. The Raiders have always seemed to like him.

With Lee Smith, Jared Cook, and Clive Walford as the top three tight ends, there was always a question of whether the team would carry four tight ends. If so, others in the running for that spot are Ryan O’Malley, Cooper Helfet, and Pharaoh Brown.