Raiders activate Marcus Mariota off injured reserve

The Las Vegas Raiders continue to regain their health as they activated backup quarterback Marcus Mariota from the injured reserve on Tuesday.

Mariota spent 43 days on the injured reserve. He was surprisingly put on the IR with a pec injury six days before the start of the season. Mariota still may not be the backup this coming Sunday when the Raiders host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, however.

Nathan Peterman has backed up starter Derek Carr all season and last week, when asked about Mariota’s timeline to return, Jon Gruden brought up Peterman and heaped praise on him.

Some people thought Mariota had a chance to compete with Carr when he was signed to a lucrative contract in March, but he didn’t have a good training camp — perhaps because of the injury — and Carr has been good as the Raiders have jumped out to a 3-2 start.

Still, getting Mariota back is a good thing for the Raiders. He is a former starter with the Tennessee Titans and it is important to have experience at backup quarterback just in case of an injury.