Omar Gaither signs with Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders made two roster moves Wednesday, adding linebacker Omar Gaither and placing Travis Goethel on injured reserve.

Goethel is the seventh player Oakland has placed on injured reserve this season. He ends the season with two tackles, although he did not see much time on defense. Goethel is infamous for his three bad snaps on punt in the season opener against the San Diego Chargers. The performance made Jon Condo more valuable to the Raiders and put long snappers into the spotlight for one week. It forces the Raiders to find a backup long snapper in emergency situations, although they are probably praying they don’t get into that situation.

Gaither is a veteran linebacker who will help Oakland’s depth on defense. He hasn’t played this season after not making the Houston Texans out of training camp. The linebacker played for the Carolina Panthers last season, compiling 31 tackles and a sack. Gaither’s best season came in 2007, his second year in the NFL, when he made 102 tackles and had eight pass breakups as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. In his career, Gaither has 320 tackles including 251 solo stops, six sacks and two interceptions which both came during his first two years in the league.

The move definitely adds some much needed depth to a beat-up Oakland defense, which is especially thin at linebacker. Gaither will not have a big impact right away and probably won’t see the field a whole lot Sunday, but he gives the Raiders some much needed help on a much maligned defense.