HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Raiders coach Pete Carroll said Friday the club didn’t rush into its decision to release defensive tackle Christian Wilkins a day earlier over a dispute regarding his recovery from a broken foot.
“We took a long time to make our decision,” Carroll said. “We watched our way through the whole thing. We’re keeping it really clear with what we said. I think there was no clear path to his return, so we just had to move on.”
His comments largely echoed the unusually strongly worded statement issued by the Las Vegas organization on Thursday, in which the Raiders said Wilkins failed to provide a “clear path or plan for future return to play.”
Wilkins was injured in Week 5 last season and had some sort of setback in his recovery that took him out of offseason practices and landed him on the physically unable to perform list shortly before training camp opened Wednesday.
Wilkins, 29, was the Raiders’ marquee free-agent signing last year, agreeing to a four-year, $110 million contract with $82.75 million guaranteed. The Raiders reportedly are trying to void the remaining $35.25 million of Wilkins’ deal.
Wilkins has filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.
The Raiders will have a dead salary cap hit of $29.8 million even if they win the grievance.
With Wilkins off the roster, Adam Butler and Jonah Laulu ran first team at tackle this week in practice. Butler started 16 games last season, finishing with 65 tackles, eight for loss and five sacks. Laulu started seven games as a rookie, making 35 tackles, with three for loss and a sack. Both players were in all 17 games.
“This place is about competition,” Carroll said. “It always has been. It’s wide open. I’m not going to talk about any names right now. If you watch the rotations, we’re giving everybody a chance. We’re mixing the (starters) with the (backups) all the way throughout just to gather a bunch of information.”
The Raiders announced Friday they picked up defensive tackle Keondre Coburn off waivers from Tennessee. He has 22 tackles, one for loss, over the past two seasons with the Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Wilkins was brought to Las Vegas to add an even stronger presence to a defensive line that includes pass rushers Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce. He had a career-high nine sacks in 2023 with Miami to go with his elite run-stopping ability.
The hopes of forming one of the NFL’s most imposing defensive lines took a major hit when all three linemen suffered season-ending injuries, though Crosby and Koonce are back practicing. Crosby was nearly impossible to block Friday as the team continued to work in non-padded practices.
Wilkins had two sacks and 17 tackles in five games before injuring his foot, which required surgery. He suffered a Jones fracture — a break of the bone that connects the pinkie toe to the base of the foot.
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