The Raiders suffered a pair of injuries at safety in their season-opening loss to the Bengals and that’s caused them to bring back a veteran who was dropped from the roster during the cut to 53 players.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team will re-sign Taylor Mays on Tuesday. Mays signed with the Raiders late in the offseason after asking for his release from the Lions, but didn’t do enough to make it onto the roster initially. Schefter adds that Mays also considered signing with the Seahawks, who are coached by his college coach Pete Carroll. Mays also played for Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. while at USC.
Bringing Mays back at this point allows the Raiders to avoid guaranteeing his salary for the entire season, which makes veteran signings common in the second week of the regular season. For Oakland, though, the more pressing reason for Mays’s return is that Charles Woodson dislocated his shoulder and Nate Allen suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury in Sunday’s loss.
Those two injuries left the Raiders with Keenan Lambert and Larry Asante at safety, so they may need to make another move at the position even with Mays coming back.