Raiders sign former Chargers punter Drew Kaser, nine others on reserve/future contracts

Despite some of the worst punting in the NFL this season, the Raiders stuck with 5th round rookie punter Johnny Townsend. If they were competing for a playoff spot, that certainly wouldn’t have been the case. Teams with something to fight for can’t risk their chances being ruined by bad field position.

Now that we are in the offseason, all bets are off. Tuesday the Raiders added former Chargers’ 6th rounder Drew Kaser on a reserve/future contract. Kaser averaged 47.4 yards per punt over 36 games with the Chargers. Compare that to Townsend who averaged 43.2 yards per punt this season. That’s the difference between top five in the NFL and dead last.

Kaser played four games with the Chargers this season before being cut. He signed on with the Packers in early November for one week but did not play.

Kaser was one of ten player the Raiders added on reserve/future contracts. The other nine were on the team’s practice squad at season’s end. The only player on the practice squad who was not re-signed was WR Johnny Holton.

Here are all ten:

Blacknall, Saeed WR 6-2 208 R Penn State

Butler, James RB 5-9 210 R Iowa

Collins, Cayson LB 6-1 230 R North Carolina

Cowser, James LB 6-3 245 3 Southern Utah

Davis, Rashard WR 5-9 177 1 James Madison

Dorleant, Makinton DB 5-11 182 2 Northern Iowa

Kaser, Drew P 6-2 206 3 Texas A&M

McGloster, Jamar T 6-6 319 R Syracuse

Peterman, Nathan QB 6-2 225 2 Pittsburgh

Yurachek, Ryan FB 6-0 240 R Marshall