Should Raiders hold Jalen Richard out of the remaining preseason games?

One of the names that was frequently mentioned as a big performer during Oakland Raiders training camp has been undrafted rookie free agent Jalen Richard. The running back out of Southern Mississippi is an undersized back who reminds many in camp of rookie DeAndre Washington. But despite his diminutive size, he’s impressed many onlookers and was seen as a potential 53 man roster guy early on.

But then Richard got injured and missed the first two preseason games of the year. Because of that, all we have at the moment is whispers of how good he looked during practice. On Tuesday, however, Richard returned to practice giving hope that we will finally get a look at him in the preseason.

But should we hope he plays on Saturday or would it be better if he just sat our the rest of the preseason?

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The Raiders clearly need an upgrade to their run game from 2015, in particular with depth. At the moment, the Raiders have Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington, Taiwan Jones, George Atkinson III and the two fullbacks, Marcel Reece and Jamize Olawale. It’s purely a guess, but I don’t imagine the Raiders will keep more than four running backs and one fullback this season. That’s just enough for this group considering the fact that they won’t need to make a decision on a roster spot for Reece until after the third game of the year.

So, that means unless Richard has a good enough final two preseason games to beat out the likes of Taiwan Jones or George Atkinson III, he is destined to be cut. And if he gets cut after looking solid in the final two preseason games of the year, it will be hard for the Raiders to stash him on the practice squad. With two games of tape, the Raiders either have to run the risk of losing him to another team when they cut him, or they cut Jones or Atkinson and lose them.

BUT, if the Raiders decide to hold Richard out of the final two games, they should be able to slide him onto the practice squad without anyone noticing. Then, he can continue to practice with the team and if at some point early in the year the team decides the run game isn’t cutting it, they can cut one of the backs on the roster and bring up Richard for a boost to the run game.

It may be frustrating not being able to see Richard after a strong training camp, but in the long term, it might be better for the Raiders if they keep Richard under wraps where no one else can see what he has to offer so they can keep him around for a while.

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