One of the biggest surprises to come out of the Las Vegas Raiders' initial 53-man roster narrowing was the waiving of preseason standout Drake Thomas.
Thomas, a 23-year-old linebacker out of North Carolina State, was signed by the Silver and Black as an undrafted free agent back in May.
He would go on to record 20 combined tackles throughout the Raiders' three preseason games, having finished top-three in tackles among his teammates in every one of the contests.
But Thomas was proof that sometimes, giving everything isn't always enough.
The young linebacker was waived as part of the Raiders' initial 53-man roster finalization and unfortunately for Las Vegas, was unable to clear waivers.
"Yeah, I mean you take a chance obviously with every player who you release and you try to get back to your practice squad," said Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels when he addressed the media Wednesday. "I think there was 24 players claimed out of 1200, whatever it was. So, the odds are technically in your favor until they're not. I just saw Drake [Thomas]. He was a great kid, gave us everything he had. He's going to contribute to an NFL roster. I think Seattle is the team that claimed him.
"He was competitive in the kicking game, competitive on defense. It's just one of those things where you try to create the right 53, and sometimes you're going to miss out on a guy here if you want to keep working with them on the practice squad. Wish him nothing but the best, he'll do a great job there. They got a good football player."
Thomas was claimed by the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday.
A 2022 Associated Press first-team All-ACC honoree, Thomas played four seasons at North Carolina State, where he led the conference in tackles for loss both overall and in conference-only stats in his final season.
The Silver and Black open the regular season at the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4:25 p.m. EDT/1:25 p.m. PDT.
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