Raiders officially waive OL Vadal Alexander

This afternoon, the Raiders announced that they have waived OL Vadal Alexander. A seventh-round pick out of LSU in the 2016 Draft, Alexander played in 24 games at guard and tackle and made nine starts. This move was expected, and our own Levi Damien reported yesterday that the Raiders were planning to move on from Alexander.

Alexander was placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list after not showing up for training camp. He was slated to serve a four-game PED suspension to begin the season, but no explanation has been made public regarding his failure to report to camp.

The versatile lineman was expected to be one of the Raiders’ primary backup linemen this year, but now that will fall to other players like Breno Giacomini, Oday Aboushi, Ian Silberman, Denver Kirkland and rookies Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker. Of that group, only Kirkland has shown the sort of guard/tackle versatility that made Alexander so valuable to the Raiders.

One imagines that Alexander’s absence was the impetus for the signing of Aboushi, but if there are any further corresponding roster moves, you’ll read about it here.