Raiders sign DE Ade Aruna to practice squad

With an open spot available on the practice squad after the Raiders decided to call up G Lester Cotton Sr. last week, the Raiders have added defensive end Ade Aruna to the practice squad.

The Nigerian born Aruna came to the United States as a star high school basketball player, but realized his calling for football and ended up starring at defensive end for Tulane University.

The 6-foot-5, 263 pound edge rusher was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round, No. 218 overall in the 2018 draft.

He has not been able to stay on the field in that time, however, as he was placed on injured reserve during preseason of his rookie year, before being put back on the injured reserve list a day after final cuts on Aug. 31, 2019.

On Sept. 12, he was waived from Minnesota’s injured reserve list with an injury settlement and has been working to get back into the league since.

Considering that Aruna has almost no NFL experience, it’s likely that a few scouts and/or coaches within the Raider organization were fans of him coming out of college and feel that he’s worth a look.

The team has made an effort to canvas every edge of the league looking to upgrade their defensive line since putting up historically low sack numbers in 2018, and Aruna is just the latest prospect that they’ve brought in for Brentson Buckner to get his hands on.