Via my twitter feed - @AsherMathews – I've seen a number of comments and questions about how the Raiders must have liked Derek Hagan enough to guarantee his contract for the entire season by signing him today, officially.

What these comments are referring to is a provision in the new NFL CBA under the "Termination Pay" clause, article 30.

This provision allows a player that is a "vested veteran" (basically a player that has accrued 4 seasons in the NFL) and who is on the roster in the first week of the season but is subsequently cut in any following week to collect his full season's pay even though he may be cut in week 2.  This provision, in essence, guarantees a veteran's salary if they are on the roster for the first week's game.

Here is the language from the CBA:

 
ARTICLE 30

TERMINATION PAY

(a) Any player who has completed the season in which his fourth year or more of credited service under the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle Retirement Plan has been earned shall be eligible for Termination Pay under this Article if:

   (1) He is released after his Club's first regular season game; and

   (2) He has made the Active/Inactive List of his Club on or after the date of his Club's first regular season game.

(b) Subject to Section 3 below, the amount of Termination Pay payable to such player shall be the unpaid balance of his Paragraph 5 Salary for that League Year.

Termination Pay under this Article shall be claimed and payable no sooner than one day after the end of the regular season schedule, and no later than February 1 . A player will not be entitled to Termination Pay more than once during his playing career in the NFL.


I'd like to draw attention to the last sentence, "A player will not be entitled to Termination Pay more than once during his playing career in the NFL."

That means that a player who has been cut mid-season already and has taken advantage of their full year's salary cannot do this again.

I do not know if Derek Hagan took advantage of this provision when he was cut week 6 by the Raiders last season but I can think of no reason why he would not.  Assuming he did, he is not eligible to receive this benefit again per the language of the CBA.

So, Hagan's release last year may have made him a more attractive option for GM Reggie McKenzie this year because he can cut Hagan at any time without having further season repercussions on the salary cap.

It also means that Hagan may or may not have been the best option at the time.  He was familiar with many of the players on the team, would come cheap and can provide depth.  His signing doesn't necessarily mean he will stick for the entire season, however.

Update: The Raiders confirmed the signing and waived DB Coye Francies as the corresponding move to keep the roster at 53 players.

As we pointed out a couple of days ago, the 2012 Raiders team is still in flux.  To some extent the team will be in flux for the entire year as there are little moves that must come due to injury and other reasons.

But the roster is still incomplete with some positions still unbalanced - either too many or too bodies at differing positions.

One of the positions that has too few bodies right now, as mentioned before, is at wide receiver.  To that end, the Raiders looked at a few receivers yesterday.

The team reportedly met with receivers Jabar Gaffney and Tiquan Underwood although they have not, at this time, signed either.

The team did, however, apparently sign former Raider receiver Derek Hagan who was cut recently by the Bills.  Hagan had been on the team last year but was cut for receiver TJ Houshmanzadeh.

Hagan was more a possession receiver but he possessed good hands and ran solid routes.  He had been a standout for the team in camp and preseason by making catches when needed for first downs to keep the chains moving.

As Monday night approaches we know that Raiders QB Carson Palmer will drop back to pass a number of times.  What is less clear is who will be available to be the targets of those passes and how well they'll do.

The team came into training camp with receiver an overstocked position, but with questions as to the quality of the receiving corps.  The corps responded with some great practices – enough so that the team felt comfortable trading away WR Louis Murphy, a former 4th round pick and sometime starter at the position.

The team undoubtedly feels more comfortable at the receiver position than it has in years.  All 5 of the receivers that the team kept on the final squad have had their moments to shine:

DHB had a breakout year last year and continued his progression as a receiver with a good off season that showed him being able to make difficult downfield receptions, win 1-1 battles more consistently and use his hands to receive instead of his gut – all of these have been issues previously for the former top-10 pick but he was looking to continue his journey playing at the X WR position.

Second year standout Denarius Moore was last year's camp sensation and showed a good connection with Palmer when he joined the team mid season.  He hoped to make strides his second year at the flanker WR position.

In the wake of the signing of CB Joselio Hanson and the subsequent waiver of CB DeMarcus Van Dyke, there is a lot of speculation about the squad of defensive backs.  As was pointed out earlier today by someone on Twitter, the Raiders have turned over their cornerback squad completely with the waiving of DVD - no DB from last year's squad is on the team now.

The team is still high on DBs on the roster - currently on the roster are Ron Bartell, Shawntae Spencer, Pat Lee plus newcomers Phil Adams, Coye Francies and, now, Joselio Hanson.  They also Michael Huff who can play man against a WR as needed.

That likely means that the team is not done with this position.

The Raiders continued to address their secondary by signing cornerback Joselio Hanson to a contract, today.  Hanson had visited with the team yesterday.

The team is likely to use Hanson as a slot corner with him working as the third corner behind Ron Bartell & Shawntae Spencer.  Hanson used used as a slot corner in Philadelphia & was successful in that role.  His release was a bit of a surprise in the league.

Terms of the signing were not released.  Hanson is a vested veteran and did not have to go through the waivers system.  He was, therefore, able to sign with whichever team he chose as a free agent.

As a vested veteran, if he is on the squad at the start of the regular season, which starts next week, his contract for he year becomes fully guaranteed.

Per ProFootballTalk.com, the team has waived CB DeMarcus Van Dyke as the corresponding move.  If true, it means that both the highly touted CBs the team drafted a year ago have been waived this year.  DVD was a camp standout but stood out in games for all the wrong reasons. 

For more Raiders news & analysis throughout the day, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews         

The Raiders have filled their practice squad as of tonight, the team announced.  The squad as is currently arranged is mostly old faces but a couple of new ones have been added, too.  The practice squad is used as a place to keep young players to help them develop and is also used as a scout team to mimic opponents styles so that the roster can practice and learn how to play against different techniques.


The 2012 practice squad is currently:

LB Kaelin Burnett

LB Nathan Stupar

WR Travionte Sessions

WR Brandon Carswell

CB Chimdi Chekwa

RB Jeremy Stewart

C Collin Miller

DT Vaughn Meatago


All of the players were in camp with the Raiders except Stewart and Meatago.

Stewart is a 6'1" 219 lb RB from Stanford.  He was signed with the Jets but was waived in the recent round of cuts.

Meatago is a smaller DT from Hawaii.  He is 6'1" 298 which means he would need to play the 3 technique instead of being a space-eating NT.  He could also play DE especially in a 3-4 scheme where the team will want the ends to be a little larger.

The practice squad is by no means set and I'd guess that one of the LBs and one of the WRs will eventually be replaced as it's unusual to have 2 of any position on the squad.

For more Raiders news and analysis, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews                        

The Raiders announced their cuts tonight, moving the squad from 75 to 53 players per league guidelines.  The players waived or put onto IR were:

Waived LB Kaelin Burnett (R)
Waived K Eddy Carmona (R)
Waived WR Derek Carrier (R)
Waived WR Brandon Carswell (R)
Reserve/PUP (knees) LB Aaron Curry (4)
Waived DE Hall Davis (1)
Waived TE Kyle Efaw (R)
Waived DL Dominique Hamilton (R)
Waived OL Kevin Haslam (3)
Reserve/Injured (hamstring) TE Tory Humphrey (5)
Waived OL Nick Howell (1)
Waived LB Chad Kilgore (R)
Reserve/Injured (toe) P Marquette King (R)
Waived OL Dan Knapp (R)
Waived WR Eddie McGee (1)
Waived C Colin Miller (1)
Waived RB Lonyae Miller (1)
Terminated WR Roscoe Parrish (8)
Waived WR Travionte Session (R)
Waived LB Nathan Stupar (R)
Waived S Curtis Taylor (3)
Reserve/Injured (hip/groin) S Brandon Underwood (3)

With those cuts, the teams 53 players, as of now, are:

Offense
9 OL: Jared Veldheer, Cooper Carlisle, Stefen Wisniewski, Mike Brisiel, Khalif Barnes, Tony Bergstrom, Joseph Barksdale, Lucas Nix, Alex Parsons
3 QB: Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Terrelle Pryor
3 RB: Darren McFadden, Taiwan Jones, Mike Goodson
2 FB: Marcel Reece, Owen Scmitt
5 WR: Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford, Juron Criner, Rod Streater
3 TE: Brandon Myers, Richard Gordon, Ausberry

Defense
5 DT: Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly, Christo Bilukidi, Desmond Bryant, Jamie Cumbie
4 DE: Lamarr Houston, Matt Shaughnessy, David Tollefson, Jack Crawford
5 LB: Phillip Wheeler, Rolando McClain, Miles Burris, Travis Goethel, Carl Ihenacho,
7 CB: Ron Bartell, Shawntae Spencer, Pat Lee, DVD, Chimdi Chekwa, Bryan McCann, Coye Francies
4 S: Tyvon Branch, Michael Huff, Matt Giordano, Mike Mitchell

Special Teams
K: Sebastian Janikowski
P: Shane Lechler
LS: Jon Condo

Total: 53

The roster is far from complete, however.  Specifically, the team only having 5 LBs will be addressed.  The team is currently carring 7 CBs so at least one and quite probably two DBs will eventually get waived.  The OL is carrying 9 players right now which may be too many.  If Stefen Wisniewski comes back from a calf injury this week, Lucas Nix seems a likely candidate to be cut.  The team also would be interested in getting a sixth wide receiver if one becomes available that GM McKenzie likes.