Remember Nevin Lawson? He comes off suspension this week for Raiders

There was a time this offseason when Nevin Lawson was considered the next man up at cornerback after the Raiders three starters. That ended when the offseason addition was handed a 4-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancing drugs. That suspension is now over, allowing him to return to the team if they still want him.

Currently the Raiders’ cornerbacks are Gareon Conley, Daryl Worley, Lamarcus Joyner, Trayvon Mullen, and Keisean Nixon.

Lawson was a former starter for the Lions who was signed as a free agent this offseason. He has never had an interception in his career and with the way he played in preseason for the Raiders it become pretty evident why.

His preseason performances showed he doesn’t deserve a roster spot ahead of Mullen or Nixon. But he may not need to replace one of them at this moment because the announcement that Vontaze Burfict has been suspended opens up a roster spot.

That makes the most sense for the time being because the Raiders are currently in another country and they already added two linebackers this week, signing Dakota Allen off the Rams practice squad and calling up Justin Phillips from their own practice squad.

Phillips was active last week while Dakota Allen was inactive. They could activate both and the linebacking corps would be Tahir Whitehead, Nicholas Morrow, Kyle Wilber, Phillips and Allen. Then they could take the bye week to consider bringing in another linebacker while also considering whether Lawson is worth a roster spot.