charles snowden
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Las Vegas Raiders DE Charles Snowden.
The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t shown much interest in bringing back most of their free agents, but there are a few players worth keeping around. The team decided to use the exclusive rights tender on free agent safety Tristin McCollum, and they weren’t done there.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Raiders have used the exclusive rights tenders on defensive end Charles Snowden and center Will Putnam. Both guys got some decent playing time last season.
Snowden played in 15 games, starting nine of them, while Putnam also played in 15 games, starting two of them. New defenisve cooridantor Rob Leonard was the team’s defensive line coach for the past few seasons, so he knows Snowden well. He could continue to have a key role on the defensive line next season.
Putnam is a young player who was an undrafted free agent signing of the Raiders in 2024. The team needs all the dpeth they can get on the offensive line, so he’ll have a chance to compete.
Raiders Should Add Veteran OL in Free Agency
It’s been talked about quite a bit how big the need on the offensive line is for the Raiders. The team is expected to use their first-round pick on a quarterback, so the earliest they could take an offensive lineman is in the second-round.
However, with a rookie quarterback coming in, it could make more sense to protect him with veteran offensive linemen. NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks thinks it makes more sense to attack the position group in free agency.
“What you want to do is attack some of the needs [in free agency] based on the strength of the draft,” Brooks told Paul Gutierrez of Raiders.com.
“Where they’re weak in the draft, you want to be strong in free agency. Ideally. If you’re the Raiders, and there are some veteran offensive linemen … you take those guys. And then what that frees you up to do is take the best available player when it comes to the draft.”
John Spytek Talks 2025 Draft Class
General manager John Spytek now has a year of experience under his belt, so he should have a better idea of what he wants. He also doesn’t have to share roster decision-making authority with Pete Carroll.
A big criticism of Carroll was that he didn’t give enough snaps to the Raiders’ 2025 draft class. It was hard for the team to get a full evaluation of the rookies. Spytek had a chance to speak about the class during the NFL Scouting Combine.
“I saw them every day in practice,” Spytek said at the Combine. “I saw them get better. It was good to see a lot of them play more at the end of the year and have success. … So I’m comfortable with where those guys are at. They’re about the right things. They’re football guys first. They’re in the building training every day. I don’t think Caleb Rogers has missed a day since the season ended right now. So I’m happy with those guys. They’re on the right path.”