The Raiders are parting ways with another cornerback.
They opened the offseason by releasing David Amerson and now there are multiple reports that they are also cutting Sean Smith loose.
Smith joined the Raiders as a free agent in 2016 and signed a four-year deal with the club. His tenure got off to a rough start when he was benched during his first game with the team. He remained a starter for the rest of 2016, but only started seven of the 14 games he played for Oakland last season.
Smith had 74 tackles and four interceptions in 29 overall games the last two seasons.
With Amerson and Smith gone and T.J. Carrie set for free agency, the Raiders will be doing some work to fill out their defensive backfield. They showed interest in Richard Sherman, but Sherman told Peter King of SI.com that General Manager Reggie McKenzie told him the team wouldn’t have the cap space necessary to beat the deal he got with the 49ers.
Releasing Smith, who is set to stand trial on assault charges stemming from an arrest last July, will give them $8.5 million more in cap space to use this offseason.
UPDATE 12:03 p.m. ET: Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times reports that Smith will plead guilty to assault on Tuesday rather than go to trial. He is expected to be sentenced to to a year in jail and three years of probation.