November 27, 2020 - Oakland, CA, USA - Oakland Raiders fans in The Black Hole section of the stadium are ready for the team’s game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. The Raiders defeated the Panthers 35-32 (Photo by Jeff Siner/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire)
Earlier this month, we did a series that took a look at players on the Oakland Raiders who the team might consider cutting. The analysis took into consideration not only the player’s contributions on the field, but also their salary cap implications. If you missed any of that series, feel free to catch up before we move on:
- Cut or Keep: Dan Williams
- Cut or Keep: David Amerson
- Cut or Keep: Sean Smith
- Cut or Keep: Austin Howard
- Cut or Keep: Reggie Nelson
Those were my thoughts on whether or not the Raiders should cut or keep those guys. But we also wanted to hear what Raider Nation had to say about these players so we took to Twitter. Here’s a look at what we found:
Now that we are done with the #Raiders Cut or Keep series, we’re going to run some polls and see what #RaiderNation thinks.
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Should the #Raiders cut or keep Dan Williams?
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Should the #Raiders cut or keep Austin Howard?
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Should the #Raiders cut or keep David Amerson?
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Should the #Raiders cut or keep Sean Smith?
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Should the #Raiders cut or keep Reggie Nelson?
— Black Hole Banter (@BlackHoleBanter) January 27, 2021
Obviously this is a small sample size as the most popular poll only had 308 votes. But while it’s far from scientific, I always find it interesting to take the temperature of Raider Nation. So let’s dig a little deeper into the results.
Hands down the most clear cut response was about David Amerson. In that poll, 81% of respondents want the Raiders to keep Amerson. The least clarity came on Austin Howard where 47% of respondents want Howard to be cut out right.
The twist with our polls is that we gave users the option of cutting and re-signing players for cheap. This, of course, is not entirely up to the Raiders. If the player agrees to such a thing, then great. If not, well… you gotta cut or keep them. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers if we assume that everyone who voted to cut and re-sign cheaper would opt to simply cut the player if a cheaper contract wasn’t available.
In this case, the most clear cut answer is still keeping David Amerson. But it’s not such a huge victory this time around as removing the third option would leave 77% of respondents who want Austin Howard to be cut.
Removing the third option also makes the Reggie Nelson question seem much closer than at first glance. With two cut options available, most respondents voted for keeping Nelson with the remainder split among the two cut options. But when you combine those, respondents only barely vote to keep Nelson with a vote of 57% to 43%.
And now that we have an idea of what Raider Nation would do if put in charge of the Raiders, all that’s left is to see what the Raiders actually do!
