Neiron Ball one of 3 Raiders waived
OAKLAND, Calif. — There is a popular saying among coaches, an adage whose phrasing and syntax varies by speaker. Its message is always the same.
The most important ability is durability.
The Raiders parted Friday with three players, including one who struggled to achieve the latter.
Linebacker Neiron Ball, a 2015 fifth-round pick out of Florida, was unable to stay on the field consistently. He started two games as a rookie before a knee injury required multiple surgeries and ended his season. After missing all of last year and the spring, Ball was waived along with linebacker Andy Mulumba and long snapper Anthony Kukwa.
These moves leave the Raiders with three vacancies on their 90-man roster.
The NFL does not require the team to be at 90 players come the July 28 report date of training camp. But certainly, the Raiders figure to round out their roster in the coming weeks.
Ball appeared in six games in 2015, registering five tackles with a Week 3 sack against the Browns. He overcame brain surgery in college while at Florida and underwent microfracture knee surgery as a senior. The ability was enough for him to be on the training-camp roster.
The durability wasn’t. He was waived with a non-football injury designation.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.