Sources: Raiders to sign ex-Cowboys WR Gallup

Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff WriterApr 29, 2024, 07:30 PM ET
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HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders plan to sign former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Gallup to a one-year contract worth up to $3 million, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeremy Fowler.

The pending signing is intriguing in that the Raiders already have a bevy of pass-catchers on the roster.

Their receivers include three-time first-team All-Pro Davante Adams, who has at least 100 catches in five of his past six seasons; Jakobi Meyers, who had a career-high eight touchdown catches last season; and Tre Tucker, who averaged 17.4 yards per catch as a rookie in 2023. They also have a trio of pass-catching tight ends in Michael Mayer, who had 27 catches for 304 yards and 2 TDs as a rookie last season; veteran Harrison Bryant, who signed as a free agent in March after catching 89 passes and 10 TDs in four years with the Cleveland Browns; and first-round draft pick Brock Bowers, who caught 175 passes for 2,537 yards and 26 touchdowns in three years at Georgia.

The Raiders released five-year veteran slot receiver Hunter Renfrow this offseason and did not select a wide receiver in their eight picks of last week’s draft, though they did use a sixth-round selection on New Hampshire’s Dylan Laube, a pass-catching running back who patterns his game after Christian McCaffrey‘s.

Yet entering the draft, receiver was a top-three position of need for the Raiders, along with quarterback and offensive tackle.

“We can move people around,” said Raiders first-year general manager Tom Telesco, referencing using the No. 13 pick on Bowers despite already having Mayer, a second-round pick in 2023, and Bryant on the roster.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, released Gallup on March 15 to open $9.5 million in salary cap space.

Dallas gave Gallup, 28, permission to seek a trade, which turned out to be just a prelude to his release.

After tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee late in the 2021 season, Gallup signed a five-year, $57.5 million deal with the Cowboys in 2022, but he was unable to regain the form that saw him average 15.5 yards per catch. After the injury, Gallup caught 73 passes for 842 yards and six touchdowns and did not record a 100-yard game in the regular season in 2022 and 2023. In the wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers in January, he caught six passes for 103 yards.

His best season came in 2019, when he caught 66 passes for 1,107 yards and six touchdowns.

Selected by the Cowboys in the third round of the 2018 draft out of Colorado State, Gallup has 266 receptions for 3,744 yards and 21 touchdowns in his career.

ESPN’s Todd Archer contributed to this report.