Midway through the third quarter of last Friday's game in Arrowhead, Raiders wide receiver DJ Turner returned a kickoff 28 yards, went down hard and didn't come back up. Eventually he was helped off the field and did not return.
Today Turner was placed on injured reserve. The talented special teams player will be missed because of his gunner and return skills, as well as his role as the team's starting receiver this season following the departure of Davante Adams in a trade with the Jets.
To keep his athletic presence on the roster, the Raiders signed RB Sincere McCormick from the practice squad.
McCormick is a former undrafted free agent from the University of Texas San Antonio. He didn't have an NFL carry until two weeks ago. But due to injuries to Zamir White and Alexander Mattison, McCormick was called into action.
Over the past two weeks, McCormick has put up some impressive numbers. He rushed for 97 yards on 17 carries. His 5.7 yards per carry is far better than any other Raiders this season.
In his first appearance against the Broncos in Week 12, he had 33 yards on five carries (6.6 YPC) and head coach Antonio Pierce made it clear that he deserved more runs. Last week against the Chiefs, he saw his carries increase to 12 and still averaged 5.3 yards per carry.
Now, in less than two weeks, he's moving from obscure practice squad back to lead back with an NFL contract. It will be interesting to see what he can do for the rest of the season and if that means he will be part of the Raiders' plans going forward.
