The Las Vegas Raiders have taken a clear step in the right direction this season. After a disastrous 2025 campaign, they switched their head coach and quarterback, while also getting the first overall pick in the draft.

That resulted in the team starting 3-4, while being competitive in virtually all of their games so far. Still, the fan base isn’t fully satisfied with all of the decisions the franchise is making. A prime example of that was releasing a defensive tackle.

Raiders Fans Aren’t Thrilled About Releasing In-Demand DT

A seventh-round pick in 2024, Jonah Laulu was initially waived by the Indianapolis Colts before being picked up by the Raiders. He became wildly impactful for them last season, ranking at number 22 on PFN’s Defensive Tackle Impact Metric.

This year, though, even as the team as a whole has improved all across the board, Laulu’s production took a significant step back. He fell all the way to number 109 before being waived by the Raiders.

Now,Jordan Schultz reported that he was picked up by the Tennessee Titans, who got waiver priority over the New York Jets, Colts, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, and Houston Texans, all of whom had also put in claims for him.

The number of waiver claims left some fans wondering whether Las Vegas could have explored a trade before cutting Laulu, although the post-release interest does not establish that another team was willing to give up draft compensation.

“You’re telling me we couldn’t even get a 6/7th pick for him?” One fan’s disappointment was hard to overlook by their tone alone.

Another fan wondered, “6 teams wanted Jonah Laulu, and John Spytek couldn’t find a way to trade him?”

Butone fan believed things could get even worse for Spytek and the front office on one condition, arguing, “If he balls out and the Raiders’ defensive woes continue, this will be heavily scrutinized.”

Currently, the Raiders are ranked 25th on PFN’s Defense Impact Metric, and it has been a major reason they’ve lost four straight games after starting the year 3-0. To part ways with Laulu without any compensation in return could have major consequences.

“Raiders should have made a couple of trade calls this week,” one fan argued.

But given the team that he was going to, another fan wondered how good their situation could get in a best-case scenario setting, writing, “If this guy ends up as productive as Simmons…that trade starts looking ridiculous.”

It remains to be seen how Laulu performs for the Titans moving forward. But given the interest from teams across the league in his services, it is understandable that the fan base is peeved with how his departure was handled.