Pete Carroll says the Raiders didn't rush into decision to release Christian Wilkins

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Raiders coach Pete Carroll said Friday the club didn't rush into its decision to release defensive tackle Christian Wilkins a day earlier over a dispute regarding his recovery from a broken foot.

“We took a long time to make our decision,” Carroll said. “We watched our way through the whole thing. We're keeping it really clear with what we said. I think there was no clear path to his return, so we just had to move on.”

His comments largely echoed the unusually strongly worded statement issued by the Las Vegas organization on Thursday, in which the Raiders said Wilkins failed to provide a "clear path or plan for future return to play.”

Wilkins was injured in Week 5 last season and had some sort of setback in his recovery that took him out of offseason practices and landed him on the physically unable to perform list shortly before training camp opened Wednesday.

Wilkins, 29, was the Raiders’ marquee free-agent signing last year, agreeing to a four-year, $110 million contract with $82.75 million guaranteed. The Raiders reportedly are trying to void the remaining $35.25 million of Wilkins’ deal.

Wilkins has filed a grievance with the NFL Players Association, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The Raiders will have a dead salary cap hit of $29.8 million even if they win the grievance.

With Wilkins off the roster, Adam Butler and Jonah Laulu ran first team at tackle this week in practice. Butler started 16 games last season, finishing with 65 tackles, eight for loss and five sacks. Laulu started seven games as a rookie, making 35 tackles, with three for loss and a sack. Both players were in all 17 games.

“This place is about competition,” Carroll said. “It always has been. It's wide open. I'm not going to talk about any names right now. If you watch the rotations, we're giving everybody a chance. We're mixing the (starters) with the (backups) all the way throughout just to gather a bunch of information.”

The Raiders announced Friday they picked up defensive tackle Keondre Coburn off waivers from Tennessee. He has 22 tackles, one for loss, over the past two seasons with the Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Wilkins was brought to Las Vegas to add an even stronger presence to a defensive line that includes pass rushers Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce. He had a career-high nine sacks in 2023 with Miami to go with his elite run-stopping ability.

The hopes of forming one of the NFL’s most imposing defensive lines took a major hit when all three linemen suffered season-ending injuries, though Crosby and Koonce are back practicing. Crosby was nearly impossible to block Friday as the team continued to work in non-padded practices.

Wilkins had two sacks and 17 tackles in five games before injuring his foot, which required surgery. He suffered a Jones fracture — a break of the bone that connects the pinkie toe to the base of the foot.

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FILE - Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (94) warms up before an NFL preseason football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, like in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.

Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.

The Veronica is the sixth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

Noem, in her social media post, said that the raid was carried out with “close coordination with our colleagues” in the military as well as the State and Justice departments.

“Our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law,” Noem added.

As with prior posts, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see it as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Last week, Trump met with executives from oil companies to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)