Raiders head coach Pete Carroll announced on Monday that the team had released veteran linebacker Germaine Pratt, but very little has been reported on why they chose to release him.
There have been a few rumors around Pratt and the general state of the Raiders’ locker room, but no one has gone on the record to share details around why the team didn’t allow Pratt to travel to Indianapolis and parted ways with him on Monday.
Considering it’s been 48 hours since Pratt was released, it seems obvious the team doesn’t want to share the details around Pratt’s departure, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter talked on Wednesday about the reaction from the locker room.
“I have not found that [Pratt] being cut has had a negative influence at all on the locker room, so that would lend me to believe that the team was supportive of that decision,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I have not talked to anywhere near the entirety of the locker room, but I have talked to several parts of that locker room and not one of them seemed to be upset by the decision… they are fine with it.”
Carpenter added that Pratt wasn’t being used as a scapegoat for the team’s four-game losing streak, but if Pratt wasn’t part of the problem, it seems he also wasn’t part of the solution.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers addressed Pratt’s release on Monday, and he believed at the time that there was some level of “disconnect” between Pratt and the coaching staff.
“A lot of people reached out to me and said, ‘Q, why was the move made?’ And the only thing I can assume, and again, this is just an assumption, this is not me reporting. I have not heard this. I just kind of know how things go… and it just seems like that there was probably some kind of disconnect,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast on Monday.
“I know there’s been all kind of different rumors and reports out there, and I’m not going to bring those to the table because none of those I know are factual. I just know that there are rumors and reports out there by some people with sources here and there. And unless I know it to be true, I don’t want to bring it to the table and just throw some reckless speculation out there. But seems like all the players and all the coaches are not on the same page,” Myers continued.
“The one thing that I could tell you is when you bring in veterans that have been doing it at a very high level for a long time, sometimes they’re kind of stuck in their way. Sometimes it’s one of those, this is how I’ve always done it type situation. And maybe the coaching staff did not see eye to eye with Jermaine Pratt.”
Less than 48 hours after his release was announced, ESPN reported that Pratt intends to sign with the Indianapolis Colts, who beat the Raiders 40-6 on Sunday.
x: @raidersbeat
Let Spillane leave, and hire a replacement and then he leaves. Is something rotten in Vegas?
Tons of things are rotten in Vegas. From ownership to front office to coaching staff and of course some players. The team wasn’t stacked or anything coming of multiple years of poor roster decisions so Tom,Spy, and Pete changed half the roster and the results should’ve been expected. Pete should’ve never been hired, Tom should’ve never been allowed to buy a stake in the club at a discounted rate, Tom shouldn’t be discussing anything related to roster and limited to none on game planning. He’s wanting to be the reason the Raiders get better but it’s obvious to everyone not associated with the Raiders that he’s part of the problem. Hiring your buddy to be GM was large red flag, giving his QB advice on who to draft was another. The rotting on the top just goes downhill. The Raider Nation deserves better. Mark needs to get rid of anything and everyone associated with the Patriot Way BS, Tom included.
Yep, what you said
The Carol is losing the locker room the players are not playing hard like they were for AP, AP had the locker room had players playing hard for him you let a good coach go all he needed was a QB, you let good young players leave the building, you bring in Old players at the end of their career, what you needed is a QB and again you passed on one his name is Jaxson Dart, maybe that is why JPJ is mad
You sound like a parrot regurgitating what you heard and read. AP was a lost puppy and the Raiders don’t need a cheerleader. They need a real coach.