Raiders place CB Chigozie Anusiem on injured reserve after knee injury in preseason

The Las Vegas Raiders have placed cornerback Chigozie Anusiem on injured reserve after he suffered a knee injury in Thursday night’s preseason matchup against the Houston Texans. The move, announced by the team on Saturday, indicates that the Raiders will have to adjust their defensive and special-teams depth immediately as the preseason calendar moves toward roster cuts.

According to the team’s announcement as reported by Yahoo Sports, Anusiem injured his knee in the third quarter of the game. He was participating on the punt team when he was dragged down from behind, a detail that helps explain why a player can be hurt even on plays that do not involve the main defensive coverage responsibilities.

In the preseason, cornerbacks often carry a dual workload. They are evaluated on coverage reps against different routes and receiver groupings, but they also show up in the “two-way” picture that extends to special teams. When a defensive back who is trusted on punt coverage goes down, it forces immediate reshuffling of roles, including which players are trusted to handle downfield positioning and return-containment assignments.

For Las Vegas, the Anusiem injury adds another pressure point to a roster already defined by competition at defensive back. The Raiders will likely need to lean on other corners and depth pieces to cover both traditional coverage snaps and special-teams duties, particularly in practice and in the final preseason weeks. Even when a team has established starters, cornerback injuries during evaluation periods can change who gets meaningful reps before the roster settles.

The timeline matters as well. Placing a player on injured reserve typically removes him from regular-season availability, and it can also shift how the team plans its late roster-building. With Anusiem sidelined, the Raiders’ staff will need to determine whether they can redistribute his reps internally or whether they will look to add veteran depth to stabilize the unit’s coverage and punt-team contributions.

There is also a broader preseason lesson here for every roster trying to get to Week 1. Injuries that occur during special-teams plays can happen suddenly, and they often do not show up as early in game-day planning. An injury that ends a player’s season before the regular season begins can create a gap that must be filled during a narrow window when teams prefer to keep experiments limited.

What to watch next for Las Vegas is how the Raiders respond in the secondary rotation and on punt coverage. Specifically, pay attention to which cornerbacks take on increased punt-team responsibilities, whether the team changes its defensive back alignment to reduce strain on depth players, and how quickly the staff can identify a replacement for Anusiem’s available roles. The next preseason reps will be the clearest indicator of the direction the Raiders are taking now that his availability is gone.