Last month, the Raiders announced they had signed free agent defensive lineman Laki Tasi, and at the time, not many knew who Tasi was.
The 21-year-old, 6-foot-6, 348-pound rugby player from Goodna, Australia had never played American football, but with his size and athleticism the Raiders decided to roll the dice on Tasi.
On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter reported the Raiders were planning to move Tasi to offensive guard, but not a lot is known about why the team made the switch.
On Thursday, though, Carpenter offered a theory to why the Raiders might have changed Tasi’s position less than a month into his tenure with the team.
“I told you, I did not think he would make the 53-man roster,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“The problem was going to be he is so incredibly athletic. Would the Raiders [be able to] hide him on the practice squad, especially if he showed out this preseason?” Carpenter continued.
“I think having him on the offensive line is great because he probably won’t be as good there as he would be on [the defensive line], so it may be easier to hide him on [the practice squad], or he gets reps at [guard] and [defensive tackle] during the season.”
It’s an interesting theory that the Raiders might be trying to hide Tasi by moving him to offensive guard, and considering he is still learning the game, there’s no real downside to taking the patient route – especially since the accelerated route might lead another team to see Tasi in the preseason and sign him to a contract after roster cuts in August.
x: @raidersbeat