The Raiders have signed another one of their 2025 draft picks.
Las Vegas announced on Tuesday that cornerback Darien Porter has put pen to paper on his four-year rookie contract.
Porter, a third-round pick out of Iowa State, converted from receiver to cornerback midway through his college career. He recorded three interceptions for the program in 2024.
Recently, Porter noted that he grew up a USC fan, so he’s long admired his new head coach, Pete Carroll.
“I was watching him in the early to mid-2000s with USC,” Porter said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So for me, it’s kind of surreal to have this kind of come full circle for me. Now he’s my head coach in the NFL, so it’s just crazy.”
With Porter inking his contract, only second-round receiver Jack Bech remains unsigned in Las Vegas’ 2025 draft class.
The Raiders have made some changes to their 90-man roster after this weekend’s rookie minicamp.
The team announced that they have signed six players, including the previously reported move to add veteran linebacker Jaylon Smith. They made six corresponding roster cuts, highlighted by the decision to waive defensive tackle Matthew Butler.
Butler was a 2022 fifth-round pick and he appeared in 15 games over the last three seasons. He had 15 tackles and a half-sack.
The Raiders also released wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson. They waived offensive tackle Dominic Boyd, linebacker Amari Burney, wide receiver Tyreik McAllister, and linebacker Brandon Smith.
Smith was signed along with defensive end Jahfari Harvey, wide receiver Ketron Jackson Jr., wide receiver Key’Shawn Smith, linebacker Wesley Steiner, and safety Jonathan Sutherland.
The Raiders are down to two unsigned draft picks.
Fourth-round wide receiver Dont’e Thornton was the latest member of their 11-player class to sign his four-year rookie deal. Second-round wide receiver Jack Bech and third-round cornerback Darien Porter are the remaining unsigned picks.
Thornton had 26 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns at Tennessee in 2024. He led FBS schools in yards per reception and had six catches of at least 50 yards on the year.
Raiders General Manager John Spytek said Thornton, who is 6-4 and 205 pounds, “was born to be a Raider” because of his mix of size and speed. He’s now officially a Raider and on his way to making an on-field impact in Vegas.
Jaylon Smith’s NFL comeback will continue with Las Vegas.
Smith is signing with the Raiders after the linebacker had a successful veteran tryout at the club’s rookie minicamp this weekend, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Smith, 29, last played one game with the Raiders in 2023, making this his second stint with the team.
Aside from that experience a couple of years ago, Smith played under Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham with the Giants in 2021.
A second-round pick in the 2016 draft, Smith has appeared in 88 career games with 69 starts for the Cowboys, Giants, Packers, and Raiders. He’s tallied 11.0 sacks, two interceptions, 21 passes defensed, six forced fumbles, and six fumble recoveries.
In recent months, the only constant for NFL Network’s Good Morning Football has been change.
The latest to exit is former NFL player Akbar Gbajabiamila. According to Deadline.com, via AwfulAnnouncing.com, Gbajabiamiala will not return to the show.
He last appeared on February 14, only days after Super Bowl LIX.
Gbajabiamila, who continues to co-host NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, joined the show after NFLN surprisingly moved the operation from New York to L.A. in 2024, replacing Jason McCourty.
Undrafted in 2003, Gbajabiamila played for the Raiders, Chargers, Dolphins. He appeared in 31 regular-season games.
In March, Peter Schrager left Good Morning Football for ESPN. Kyle Brandt is the only remaining member from the original cast. The morning show has been using a rotating group of guest hosts in recent weeks.
Veteran linebacker Jaylon Smith is participating in the Raiders’ rookie minicamp on a tryout basis this weekend, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Smith has remained a free agent since the season ended.
The Steelers signed him to their practice squad Dec. 27, but he did not see any action.
He last appeared in a game in 2023 with the Raiders, getting 25 defensive snaps in one game.
The Cowboys made Smith a second-round pick in 2016 despite a serious knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl in his final game at Notre Dame. He missed all of his rookie season.
Smith made the Pro Bowl in 2019 with the Cowboys, and he spent five years in Dallas before bouncing around the league. He also played games for the Giants and Packers.
In 88 career games, 69 of them starts, Smith has totaled 626 tackles, 11 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, two interceptions, 21 passes defensed and six forced fumbles.
The Raiders announced their crop of undrafted free agent signings on Friday.
There are 15 players in this year’s group and they joined the team in time for this weekend’s rookie minicamp. The Raiders also added 11 players in the draft, so a good chunk of their 90-man roster will be made up of players new to the NFL.
Vegas’s draft class included one cornerback and the team signed three more of them. John Humphrey and Greedy Vance were teammates at USC before moving to the pro ranks and Mello Dotson played at Kansas.
The Raiders also signed SMU defensive tackle Tank Booker, Georgia Southern tackle Dominic Boyd, Arkansas safety Hudson Clark, Virginia Tech tackle Parker Clements, Old Dominion tight end Pat Conroy, Illinois wide receiver Zakhari Franklin, Iowa State center Jarrod Hufford, Baylor linebacker Matt Jones, Minnesota defensive end Jah Joyner, Baylor defensive tackle Treven Ma’ae, Towson tight end Carter Runyon, and Indiana linebacker Jailin Walker.
The Raiders signed sixth-round wide receiver Tommy Mellott on Thursday, the team announced.
He is the eighth of the Raiders’ 11 draft selections to sign. Second-round wide receiver Jack Bech, third-round cornerback Darien Porter and fourth-round wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. remain unsigned.
Mellott was the 213th overall pick.
He played four seasons at quarterback at Montana State and finished his career with 33 wins as a starter, the second-most in program history. Mellot totaled 43 rushing touchdowns (second in school history), 3,523 rushing yards (second in school history), 5,810 passing yards (fifth in school history) and 53 passing touchdowns (fifth in school history).
As a senior in 2024, Mellott won the Walter Payton FCS Player of the Year award, Walter Camp FCS Player of the Year award, FCS ADA Offensive Player of the Year award and was a unanimous first-team All-American.
He played 12 games last season and completed 165 of 241 (68 percent) passes for 2,138 yards with 22 touchdowns and one interception. Mellott also rushed 91 times for 698 yards and 10 touchdowns.
When the crypto-trading platform FTX imploded, various celebrity endorsers found themselves on the wrong end of a civil action. Now, a judge has dismissed most of the claims against a group of big names, including Tom Brady.
Via MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC.com, a federal judge in Florida has found that the plaintiffs failed to prove that Brady and others had sufficient knowledge that FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried were engaged in misconduct.
Other defendants include Gisele Bündchen, Steph Curry, Shohei Ohtani, Larry David, the Golden State Warriors, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, and Naomi Osaka.
The judge explained that, even thought Brady and others may have been “uninformed, negligent, or even reckless,” the plaintiffs failed to show that they had actual knowledge of fraud or intent to deceive or defraud FTX investors.
The judge did not dismiss claims based on Florida and Oklahoma securities laws; both states prohibit the sale of unregistered securities. Also, the plaintiffs were given an opportunity to amend their complaint, which could result in fresh claims that will stick.
Per the report, Shaquille O’Neal reached a settlement the FTX investors last month.
Brady had been a prominent endorser of what ultimately was a house of cards. It was if nothing else a major embarrassment for the six-time Super Bowl winner. The financial fiasco hasn’t really stuck to him the way it could have and arguably should have.
As Brady said in one of his commercials, “FTX is the safest and easiest way to buy crypto.” (It was not.)
Brady and others could still end up being stuck with legal responsibility to partially compensate some of the folks who lost money when they took Brady’s advice and gave FTX their money.
Running back Ashton Jeanty, the sixth overall pick, became the highest-drafted player to sign his rookie contract. But Jeanty was not the only Raiders’ draft pick to sign his four-year deal Thursday.
The Raiders announced Jeanty and six of their other 11 draft selections who signed.
Third-round offensive tackle Charles Grant, third-round offensive guard Caleb Rogers, fourth-round defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, sixth-round defensive tackle JJ Pegues, sixth-round quarterback Cam Miller and seventh-round linebacker Cody Lindenberg now are under contract.
Second-round wide receiver Jack Bech, third-round cornerback Darien Porter, fourth-round wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. and sixth-round wide receiver Tommy Mellott remain unsigned.
