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Oakland Raiders: Rolando McClain expected to be cut Thursday

The Oakland Raiders may have cut Rolando McClain if they had landed Jason Babin who was just cut by the Philadelphia Eagles

By James Arcellana
Ezra Shaw

The Oakland Raiders held starting linebacker Rolando McClain out of the majority of practice on Wednesday due to "team related issues". When asked to elaborate, head coach Dennis Allen would not give any information other than to say that he did not know if McClain would be back at practice on Thursday. Not long after that, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Vic Tafur tweeted that it was possible that the reason McClain was held out of practice is because he may have been cut had the Raiders landed former Philadelphia Eagles pass rush specialist Jason Babin off of waivers.

If this was the reason that McClain was held out of practice, and if he becomes aware of this fact, someone with the Raiders botched this situation massively. If the Raiders were this down on McClain, they should have traded him for a mid round pick before the trade deadline. Since the deadline was pushed to after week 8, surely the Raiders coaching staff and front office had seen enough of McClain by then to know if he had a future with the team or not.

Instead of getting a draft pick or two to help fill the numerous holes on the roster, the Raiders now potentially have a disgruntled player on their hands with no value. Not only could McClain, who already had some off of the field issues, end up being a distraction, but now other teams who may have been willing to trade a mid round pick this off season, will now just way to see if the Raiders cut him. Going after Jason Babin was a great idea, the handling of the underachieving McClain was a terrible idea.

UPDATE: Alabama reporter Kyle Burger tweeted that McClain has been cut and that McClain said in response to being cut: "I'm gonna weigh my options. Looking forward to playing for an actual 'team'". No other confirmation as of now that the Raiders have already cut McClain.

UPDATE 2: ESPN is reporting that the Raiders have informed Rolando McClain that he will be cut on Thursday, bringing an end to an extremely disappointing tenure with the Raiders.