Raiders cut 3 players after ugly loss

Oakland's most recent loss was a particularly painful one for three Raiders players. Make that former Raiders players.

A day after coach Jon Gruden said he would not tolerate the way his team played in its 42-21 home loss at Tennessee, the team on Tuesday released linebacker Preston Brown, defensive tackle Terrell McClain and safety D.J. Swearinger. "It's a necessary evil right now," Gruden reportedly said Monday of what ended up being the upcoming changes. "We have to play better. We're going to play better. There will be changes. What happened yesterday will not happen again."

Brown made just one tackle in one game with the Raiders this season, after nine games and 52 tackles with Cincinnati this season. The Bengals cut him in mid-November. McClain had three tackles in three games with Oakland, coming over after two games with Kansas City. And Swearinger had 20 tackles in his four games with the Raiders. He played in four games with Arizona this season before the Cardinals released him on Sept. 30. The Raiders filled one of the vacancies by signing a veteran running back Rod Smith to the active roster. The five-year veteran played in three games with the Titans this season but did not carry the ball. He has 101 carries for 364 yards and five touchdowns in 52 games with Dallas, Seattle and Tennessee.

Once 6-4 and in contention for the AFC West, the Raiders have lost three straight to fall to 6-7. They host Jacksonville in their final game in Oakland on Sunday. Then they finish with back-to-back road games before moving to Las Vegas for next season. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)