Silver Minings: Raiders call up Kyle Peko, release Kendal Vickers

The Las Vegas Raiders made a change to their defensive tackle rotation ahead of their Thursday Night Football matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. Yesterday, the Raiders announced that they’ve elevated Kyle Peko off of the practice squad and onto the active roster.

This marks the third and final time Las Vegas has called Peko up this season, meaning he’s no longer eligible for their practice squad and is on the roster for good. If the team wants to bring in someone else over the next five weeks and he ends up being the odd man out, they’ll have to release him and cannot bring him back unless it’s for another active roster spot.

Peko made his Raiders debut in Week 10 against the Colts and has gotten a decent amount of playing time recently, participating in three out of the last four games and 60 defensive snaps in those contests combined. He’s managed to rack up three total tackles and two pressures so far.

In a corresponding move, the Raiders released fellow defensive lineman Kendal Vickers. Having joined the team in 2020, Vickers was one of the few holdovers from the Jon Gruden regime and accumulated 20 total tackles and three TFL primarily as a backup during his three-year tenure with the organization. However, he missed the team’s last three games with a back injury before getting let go.

To fill the void on the practice squad, the Raiders signed linebacker Austin Calitro. A five-year veteran from Villanova, Calitro has played in 50 games with 11 starts and 102 total tackles in his career. He’s played for a different team every season, including the New York Giants where he made two starts and played in five games at the beginning of this year.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Raiders not very analytically inclined: a survey conducted by ESPN asked 21 analytics staffers around the league to pick the five-most analytically inclined teams in the NFL and Las Vegas received just one vote. The Ravens had the most with 21.
• Bruce Gradkowski reminiscing: the Raiders’ former quarterback posted a video of his comeback win against the Steelers which happened 13 years ago yesterday.
• AJ Cole named Man of the Year nominee: “Cole’s selected charity is Special Olympics Nevada, as he has a special place in his heart for athletes who face the added challenge of dealing with intellectual disabilities,” via the Raiders’ website.
• TNF preview: get the inside scoop on the Rams ahead of tomorrow’s matchup.