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The Oakland Raiders will trim their roster to 53 players today. Expect them to make at least two waiver claims Sunday to address needs at defensive back and on the offensive line. As such, there are a couple guys on this final roster who could be waived on Sunday and could subsequently find their way onto the team's practice squad. As is, I've included a list of players who are candidates for the practice squad. There is some positional imbalance on the 53-man roster as I expect the Raiders to balance it out with a few waiver claims. [table id=8 /]

Quarterbacks (3): Matt Schaub* , Derek Carr, Matt McGloin Backs (5): Maurice Jones-Drew, Darren McFadden, Latavius Murray, Jamize Olawale, FB Marcel Reece Wide Receivers (6): Rod Streater, James Jones, Denarius Moore, Andre Holmes, Greg Little, Brice Butler Tight Ends (3): TE David Ausberry, MTE Mychal Rivera, BTE Jake Murphy Offensive Line (8): LT Donald Penn, RG Gabe Jackson, C Stefen Wisniewski, RG Austin Howard, RT Menelik Watson, G/C Kevin Boothe, G/T Khalif Barnes, OT Matt McCants Defensive Line (8): DE Justin Tuck, DE LaMarr Woodley, DT Pat Sims, DT Antonio Smith, DE Shelby Harris, DE C.J. Wilson, DT Justin Ellis, DT Stacy McGee Linebackers (6): SLB Khalil Mack, MLB Nick Roach*, OLB Sio Moore* , WLB Miles Burris, MLB Kaluka Maiava, OLB Kaelin Burnett Cornerbacks (6): Tarell Brown, Carlos Rogers, TJ Carrie, Neiko Thorpe, Keith McGill, Chimdi Chekwa* Safeties (4): FS Charles Woodson, SS Tyvon Branch, FS Usama Young, S Jonathan Dowling Specialists (4): K Sebastian Janikow...

Prediction 1: Matt Shaughnessy will have 10 sacks or more. Result: Shaughnessy played in three games registering 1 sack. There is no way of knowing is Shaughnessy would have made it to 10 sacks and the three games was too small of a sample to project out a full season. 0 for 1. Prediction 2:   Taiwan Jones will have at least two touchdowns longer than 70 yards. Result: Jones also had an injury that derailed what could have been a promising start to his young career. No dice. 0 for 2. Prediction 3: Darren McFadden will have 2000 total yards from scrimmage. Result: Yet again injury hurts he possibility of the bold prediction coming true. McFadden had 768 total yards from scrimmage in seven games. Projecting McFadden's season over 16 games means he falls short at 1751 total yards. 0 for 3. Prediction 4: Darrius Heyward-Bey will catch twice as many passes as he did last year. Result: Twice as many? That wasn't enough for DHB who caught more than twice as many passes and it w...

Darrius Heyward-Bey. You read that right. Darrius Heyward-Bey the much maligned first-round draft pick two seasons ago will the be Raiders breakout player. For the record, I think Matt Shaughnessy is going to have a monster year, but he was good last year. He had seven sacks. He's hardly unknown to the Raider Nation even if he isn't a household name around the NFL yet. Since my primary audience is the Raider Nation, I think is only appropriate to select Heyward-Bey. Why Darrius Heyward-Bey? What have I seen that makes me think Heyward-Bey will have a breakout season? Heyward-Bey enters his third season. The theory for a long time was that receivers breakout in their third season. Two years ago Football Outsiders examined this theory.  The results were that receives were equally likely to breakout in their second, third and even fourth year. As raw as Heyward-Bey was entering the league, it only makes sense that he would take some time to develop.  Given he didn't breakout i...

What can you expect of the Raiders this season? More on that in the season preview later this week. This is about bold predictions. We will revist them at the end of the season and see how we did. I try to keep this as positive as possible so this is going to have a homer-like vibe to it. Just know, this is bold predictions. Hitting on 1/3 of them is probably an excellent hit rate, like baseball. 1. Matt Shaughnessy will have 10 sacks or more. 2. Taiwan Jones will have at least two touchdowns longer than 70 yards. 3. Darren McFadden will have 2000 total yards from scrimmage. 4. Darrius Heyward-Bey will catch twice as many passes as he did last year. 5. Jason Campbell will have 3000+ yards passing and 20 touchdowns. 6. Denarius Moore will return two punts for touchdowns. 7. Jacoby Ford will return two kicks for touchdowns (despite the new rules). 8. Michael Bush will rush for just 500 yards....but with 10 touchdowns. 9. The Raiders will have a top 5 offense and lead the league in rushin...

First news of cuts come in and my roster prediction already looks terrible. The Raiders parted ways with Walter McFadden. I should have gone with my gut and my belief he would be cut for months. Lito Sheppard looked good last night, but I suppose didn't do enough to merit a job over the Raiders younger options. These two cuts bode well for Jeremy Ware and Sterling Moore. We'll know for sure within the hour. Update: Jeremy Ware and Stevie Brown have been cut as well. We are past the deadline so news should trickle in until Hue has a call with the media at 4. Looks like Joe Porter may make the roster.