The Las Vegas Raiders enter the upcoming offseason with plenty of uncertainty on both sides of the ball.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels will lead a team that made quite a late push for a wild-card spot in the AFC playoff picture over the recent regular season. As chaotic as the season was for the Raiders, they still managed to clinch a spot in the playoffs, where they wound up providing the eventual AFC champions in the Cincinnati Bengals with a grand battle in the AFC wild-card round.

Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler will have numerous dilemmas to address in his first offseason with the team. On offense, there will be plenty of talk on whether Derek Carr will be under center for the Raiders come Week 1 of the 2022 campaign. More so, the team could possibly see several changes upfront within the offensive line unit.

On the other hand, the Raiders defense is coming off of quite a roller-coaster campaign. Although they did have multiple overachievers, they finished regular season play ranking 26th in points per game allowed with a 25.8 average.

The Raiders are well expected to rejuvenate several areas of their defense, and it could begin with the possible departure of one veteran linebacker.

One Raiders player who could be a surprise roster cut in the 2022 offseason

The Mike Mayock era in Las Vegas was filled with multiple what-ifs. From underwhelming free agent signings to head-scratching draft selections, there sure were multiple moves made by the now-former Raiders general manager that simply did not pan out.

Over the 2020 free agency period, Mayock sought to revamp the Raiders’ linebacker unit and opted to sign Cory Littleton to a three-year, $35.25 million deal with $22 million of it being guaranteed upfront. Littleton had interest from several other teams over the early stages of free agency, but in the end, the versatile linebacker elected to join what was a promising Raiders defense at the time.

In short, Littleton has had his fair share of highs and lows in his run with the Raiders so far. A career-high 17 missed tackles coupled with the mere two total pressures recorded marred his debut season in Las Vegas. And while there was much anticipation for a redemption campaign from him in the 2021 regular season, this did not much come to fruition. He saw a vast decrease in snaps played in the latter half of the season and overall, he capped off the year playing in 57 percent of snaps on defense.

Ziegler has not yet addressed the future of Littleton with the Raiders, but this dilemma may be on his agenda in the coming months.

Littleton has a mere one more full season remaining on his current contract deal with Las Vegas. He is set to earn an $11.0 million base salary for the 2022 campaign. Overall, he will hold a $15.76 million cap number for next season, which ranks third on the team behind quarterback Derek Carr ($19.8 million) and left tackle Kolton Miller ($16.8 million).

Ziegler will have a number of options on just how to address Littleton’s standing with the team. For one, he could simply opt to part ways with him in the offseason. If he gets cut ahead of June 1, the Raiders would carry over $14.0 million in dead cap space for next season but also save $1.76 million. On the other hand, the team would hold a mere $4.0 million in dead cap space but also save $11.7 million for the 2022 campaign if this decision were to come after June 1.

It sure would not be a surprise to see Ziegler take this route in the coming months, although he could also keep him on the roster in an effort to have new Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham work with him.

Graham is a longtime linebackers coach in the NFL, which includes such stints with the likes of the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers over the past decade. He has had many triumphs in simply getting the best out of multiple linebackers, including Jamie Collins. More so, he has also had numerous success stories, which include his one-year tenure as Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator in the 2019 season, where he helped to develop linebacker Jerome Baker as a regular starter.

In the big picture, Littleton still has plenty left in the tank at this point in his career, which includes being a keen tackler and also having the speed to take on pass defense assignments on a game-by-game basis.

The Raiders sure are set to have an arduous decision ahead regarding Littleton’s upcoming future in Las Vegas.