Raiders add troubled free agent defensive end Armonty Bryant

Today the Raiders were reportedly hosting former Washington defensive end Junior Galette. Before hearing any word of whether they had reached any kind of agreement with Galette, the team made a move at defensive end — they signed 5th year veteran Armonty Bryant.

A former 7th round pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2013 NFL Draft out of East Central University, Bryant has appeared in 36 games with four starts with the Browns and Detroit Lions over four NFL seasons. He has 11.5 career sacks in that time, with a career high 5.5 in 2015.

In 2016, appearing in just 5 games for the Lions, Bryant put up 3.0 sacks. Other than that, it was about as bad a season as anyone could have.

Bryant was suspended three times within a year’s time. The first four games for violating the league’s policy on Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s), which caused the Brown to waive him. The Lions picked him up and after four games, he was suspended for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. With one game back, he injured his knee and was placed on injured reserve.

He re-signed with the Lions last season, but after being suspended AGAIN for substance abuse, the Lions opted to release him.

Having not played in a game last season, the 6-foot-4, 265-pounder was well off most team’s radars.