Raiders lose CB Chigozie Anusiem to season-ending IR

The Raiders' secondary took another hit this week. Cornerback Chigozie Anusiem has been placed on season-ending injured reserve, ending his 2026 campaign before Las Vegas has even played a regular-season snap.

Anusiem got hurt in the third quarter of Thursday night's preseason game against the Texans, tweaking his knee while getting dragged down on the punt team. It's a rough break for a guy who's had to scrap for every opportunity in the NFL — an undrafted free agent out of Washington in 2024 who bounced through Cleveland and Arizona's practice squad before Las Vegas signed him off the street last December.

The Raiders gave him a real shot down the stretch of last season, activating him to the roster in Week 15 and using him almost exclusively on special teams — he logged 54 snaps across 3 games. It wasn't glamorous work, but it was the kind of grind that keeps depth pieces employed in this league, and it looked like he had a real chance to carve out a bigger role in 2026.

Instead, he's headed to IR alongside fellow corner Kyu Blu Kelly, who also went down with an injury in that same preseason matchup with Houston. Losing two cornerbacks to the same game is never how a team wants to enter the summer, and it puts real pressure on Las Vegas' front office to shore up the position before Week 1.

None of this is season-defining on its own — Anusiem was a depth and special-teams piece, not a starter — but it's the kind of attrition that adds up fast in a division as competitive as the AFC West. Expect the Raiders to keep churning through the waiver wire and practice squad at cornerback as final roster cuts approach.