There is one Las Vegas Raiders preseason game to go before their Week 1 matchup against the Denver Broncos to kick off the 2023 NFL season arrives. In that time, the team will have to cut down the current squad to make the 53-man roster for the upcoming season. There are several deep positions groups on the Raiders roster, which means that there will be some surprising names, including veteran wide receiver Keelan Cole, who won’t make the team.

RB Damien Williams

Josh Jacobs is reportedly ready to end his holdout, report to Raiders training camp, and be ready for the team's Week 1 game. That’s great news for the franchise but bad news for the running backs on the Raiders roster bubble.

Jacobs will be the man, and second-year back Zamir White has looked excellent in camp, as has veteran Ameer Abdullah. Brandon Bolden is a Josh McDaniels’ favorite who played for his coach with the New England Patriots, and he’s probably the best pass-catching back of the bunch.

That leaves Damien Williams, who was a key player on the Kansas City Chiefs' 2019 Super Bowl squad, as the odd man out of the equation. The free agent back signed a one-year deal this offseason, and cutting him will save the team just under $1 million.

Add all those factors up, and Williams likely won’t be on the Raiders roster in Week 1.

WR Keelan Cole

Veteran pass-catcher Keelan Cole has some solid NFL seasons under his belt with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, and last campaign he made a few big grabs for Las Vegas as well.

However, as the Raiders’ WR corps got healthier and deeper this offseason, it meant that Cole’s chance of making the team got smaller and smaller.

Obviously, returning stars Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow will make the squad, as will offseason free-agent signings Jakobi Meyers and DeAndre Carter. Third-round rookie Tre Tucker from Nebraska is more or less a lock as well.

That means there is likely no room on the Raiders roster after this preseason for Keelan Cole, along with some other talented wideouts like Phillip Dorsett, Cam Sims, and Kristian Wilkerson.

TE Jesper Horstead

Even though the Raiders traded Pr Bowl tight end Darren Waller this offseason, they are still pretty loaded at the position. Veteran free agent Austin Hopper is a known commodity, and the second-round rookie out of Notre Dame, Michael Mayer, may have been one of the steals of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Most Las Vegas watchers expected Jesper Horstead, a converted WR the Raiders signed ahead of last season, to take the No. 3 spot with relative ease. However, Horstead has struggled with nagging little injuries in the Raiders preseason, and the 2022 undrafted free agent out of Utah, Cole Fortheringham, has been turning heads all camp.

The second-year TE led all Raiders pass-catchers in the team's preseason opener with five catches for 71 yards. And if he’s healthy ahead of Week 1 and Horstead is not, the dark horse TE could get the nod.

C Hronis Grasu

Andre James is the no-doubt starting center for the Raiders heading into Week 1, but who his backup will be is in question. Hroniss Grasu was the backup last season, but the entire Raiders line was a train wreck, so it was hard to tell how good (or not) he was in silver and black.

This year, guard Jordan Meredith is taking snaps at center, and if last year’s backup guard can fill in at two positions, that versatility will give him a leg up on Grasu, who is pretty much just a center.