Oakland Raiders Cuts: Walter McFadden and the 5 Toughest 53-Man Roster Cuts

By Saturday, September 3, the Oakland Raiders and the rest of the NFL will need to have their respective rosters trimmed to the league-mandated 53-man limit.

It's one of the toughest days of the year for NFL GMs, who have to make 27 releases to get their rosters from 80 players down to 53. Overall, that means over 800 players (864, if all 32 teams make 27 cuts) will be unemployed by Saturday night.

The Raiders have some tough cuts of their own to handle by Saturday.

Here are some of the toughest cuts the team might have to make to get their roster down to 53 men.   

RB Michael Bennett

Bennett has been in the NFL for a long time now, but the Raiders simply have too many good backs ahead of him to keep the veteran around. 

Darren McFadden, Michael Bush, Taiwan Jones, Rock Cartwright and Marcel Reese look like the five who will make the roster in Oakland's backfield. 

Bennett won't make the Raiders 53-man roster.

WR Nick Miller

Receiver is another position where the Raiders have more than enough bodies, which forces Miller off the roster. 

The Raiders receiver depth chart should look something like this (in no order): Jacoby Ford, Darius Heyward-Bey, Louis Murphy, Chaz Schilens, Derek Hagans and Denarius Moore. That's six guys, which is pushing it for some teams.

There's just no room for Miller to stick with Oakland.

WR Shaun Bodiford

Bodiford is in the same seat as Miller. 

The Raiders have more than enough young, talented receivers, and they're already pushing the limit by keeping six on the roster. Rarely do teams even consider keeping a seventh, and Bodiford hasn't done enough to warrant the start of that conversation. 

He'll be one of the cuts on Saturday. 

S Stevie Brown

The Raiders sound like they are ready to go into the regular season with Mike Mitchell and Jerome Boyd as their backup safeties to Michael Huff and Tyvon Branch. 

Brown has played well this preseason and in camp, but the Raiders were fine letting him go last season when he looked like a better player. 

While I think the Raiders would like to keep him on the 53, there just isn't room for Brown. 

CB Walter McFadden

One of the Raiders final roster positions could come down to cornerbacks Walter McFadden and Chimdi Chekwa.

Chekwa is a fourth-round pick this season, so I think he stays. Both have struggled, but McFadden has shown very little improvement from his rookie season.

The Raiders are thin in the secondary and might not be willing to let go a young player, but you can only keep so many defensive backs on the 53-man roster. While it'd be a tough cut, it might be one the Raiders are forced to make.