Chekwa Returns as Raiders Fill Practice Squad

The Oakland Raiders have announced that they have filled all openings on their practice squad by signing four players.  CB Chimdi Chekwa, DT Vaughn Meatoga, C Colin Miller and RB Jeremy Stewart were all added to the Raider’s practice squad.  They join four others (LB Kaelin Burnett, WR Brandon Carswell, WR Travionte Session and LB Nathan Stupar) that were announced on Saturday to round out the 8-man squad.  In case you were wondering what makes a player eligible to be on the practice squad, here’s an excerpt from the CBA’s article 33 which deals with practice squads:

Section 4. Eligibility:
(a) The Practice Squad shall consist of the following players, provided that they have not served more than two previous seasons on a Practice Squad: (i) players who do not have an Accrued Season of NFL experience; and (ii) free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s). An otherwise eligible player may be a Practice Squad player for a third season only if the Club by which he is employed that season has at least 53 players on its Active/Inactive List during the entire period of his employment.

That paragraph basically explains how a player like Checkwa, who was with the team all of last year, is still eligible for the practice squad.  Since he only played in 4 games, and was not on the active roster for more than 9 regular season games, he can still be placed on the practice squad.
Speaking of Chimdi Chekwa, I wondered in yesterday’s article why the Raiders had kept a player like Coye Francies over Chekwa when Chekwa was clearly showing improvement towards the end of camp.  His designation to the practice squad may be the answer.  Chekwa will continue to practice with the team, and presumably hone his skills.  The Raiders can sign him to a regular season contract off of the practice squad at any time.  So basically, if Dennis Allen decides that Chimdi has improved enough to make it onto the 53-man roster at any point during the season, he can do so at will.  Chimdi Chekwa is a known commodity to Raider Nation, let’s take a look at the other players filling out the practice squad.
Colin Miller: Miller (6’3″ 300lbs.) was signed by the Raiders as an undrafted free agent rookie out of Central Michigan, and has appeared in all 4 of the team’s preseason games.  It would seem that Miller has impressed the coaching staff sufficiently to attempt to develop him further while on the practice squad.  Miller was not highly touted coming out of college, but it says a lot that he was able to latch on to the teams 8-man squad.
Vaughn Meatoga:  Meatoga is a 6’1″ 295lb. undrafted defensive tackle out of Hawaii.  had Meatoga projected to go as high as the 5th round of the 2012 draft.  Meatoga was originally signed by the Cincinnati Bengals, but was waived by the team.  The book on Meatoga basically says that he is very quick and fast from the defensive tackle position, but lacks the size necessary for it.  He may be best suited to play the DE position in a 3-4 defense.
Jeremy Stewart: Stewart, who played his college ball at Stanford, is also an undrafted free agent rookie.  Stewart doesn’t seem to have the typical attributes of an NFL fullback.  He is extremely undersized at 6’1″ 217lbs.  Despite the smaller frame, he still runs like a fullback, only able to muster a 4.57 40-yard dash.  I’m sure Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen must have seen something in him, thus the signing, but whatever it is they saw doesn’t seem to be immediately apparent.
As has been the popular theme throughout the weekend, McKenzie is showing no signs of slowing down.  He has until Tuesday at 1PM (PST) to make all of his moves before player’s regular season contracts, and paychecks begin to take effect.  Although it’s possible that the team is done making moves, don’t be surprised if there are one or two more transactions before that deadline.