Raiders Rumor: Jerry Tillery Will Be Freed at the NFL League Year’s Opening
At the beginning of the NFL’s new league year next week, defensive tackle Jerry Tillery will be released by the Las Vegas Raiders, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
After beginning his career for four years with the Los Angeles Chargers, Tillery, 27, has played with the Raiders for portions of the last two seasons.
During the previous season, Tillery played in all 17 games, starting six of them. He finished with 31 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery.
Although the Chargers selected Tillery out of Notre Dame with the No. 28 overall choice in the 2019 NFL draft, he never quite materialized into the disruptive force they had hoped for.
Over the course of four seasons, Tillery appeared in fifty-nine games for the Bolts, starting twenty-nine of them. He finished with 98 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 12 tackles for loss.
In 2021, Tillery had his most productive season ever, recording career highs of 51 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and six tackles for loss.
Tillery only recorded eight tackles and one sack in seven games for the Bolts in 2022, failing to expand on that strong performance. As a result, almost halfway through the season, the Chargers waived him, and the Raiders acquired him.
Following eight games played in 2022, Tillery signed a two-year, $6.8 million contract deal with the Raiders.
Although Tillery contributed significantly to the Raiders’ defensive line rotation in 2023 and had a respectable season, Vegas decided not to retain him.
The Raiders are already expected to have a lot of change on their interior defensive line, so the decision to dismiss him is a little unexpected.
Next week will see the start of John Jenkins, Bilal Nichols, and Adam Butler’s free agency. The three best returning defensive tackles on the team are 2023 third-round pick Byron Young, 2022 fifth-round pick Matthew Butler, and 2023 seventh-round pick Nesta Jade Silvera. Tillery is also not on the roster.
Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce together racked up 22.5 sacks last season, making the Raiders one of the top outside pass-rushing tandems in the American football league.
To deflect some of the opposition’s attention, though, they will require some excellent additions to the interior defensive line in 2024.
