Raiders Fed Up with Ivey, Release Him
The Oakland Raiders have announced through their Twitter account that they have waived nose tackle Travis Ivey. The former Maryland Terrapin is listed at 6’4″ and 341 lbs. There is no word on what weight he came in at to start camp. Whatever it was, it had to be more than he could handle. He just wasn’t in football shape, and Dennis Allen said it was more than just a weight or a conditioning issue.
“It’s a safety issue as much as it is anything else.” Said Allen after Saturday’s practice, “I want to make sure that he’s healthy, in shape, conditioned, and his weight’s where it needs to be so that if and when he does get out here to start practicing he doesn’t injure himself.”
You could really sense Allen’s disappointment in the post practice press conference yesterday. When asked if Ivey was “close” to coming back, he paused and only said “we’ll see.” And, as promised, we can now see. He was nowhere near being close to coming back. To the point that the team saw no alternative but to release him.
This, of course, puts a damper on the Raider’s plans to use more of a hybrid defense this year. As I wrote about just this morning, Ivey is the only true NT on the Raider’s roster. The only other person that the rookie head coach has mentioned for the position when they go to the 3-4 is Tommy Kelly. But, although Kelly is big and strong, he is very much undersized for a nose tackle at 6’6″ and “just” 300 lbs.
The Raiders are back down to just 88 players on the roster on which they can have as many as 90 players. Included in the Twitter statement, the team also announced that CB Ron Bartell would be returning to practice.
https://twitter.com/RAIDERS/statuses/232237890246164480
That would signify that he has passed his physical in order to get himself back on the field. Per the CBA, that means he can put pads on as early as Wednesday. He can practice without pads between now and then. And it can’t come soon enough for Bartell who has had to sit around and watch Demarcus Van Dyke excel in his stead the first 5 days of training camp.
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