Before their 23–20 overtime victory over the San Diego Chargers last Thursday, the Oakland Raiders placed rookie defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. on injured reserve due to a neck injury.
Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio made the announcement on Wednesday regarding Edwards' injury which he called "significant," ESPN reported.
Del Rio added that they are hopeful Edwards will not need surgery and that it is just a neck sprain.
The 21-year-old rookie suffered the injury in their 30–20 Week 15 defeat to the Green Bay Packers.
Unfortunately, the injured neck limited him to only 14 regular season games, missing his first game of the season when the Raiders defeated San Diego last Thursday.
In Edwards' rookie season out of Florida State, he listed a total of 42 tackles and two sacks.
ESPN added in its report that since the second round pick in this year's draft will be out, linebacker John Lotulelei joined the active roster from the practice squad to take his place.
Playing their first game of the season without Edwards, the Raiders had a great showing against the Chargers to improve to 7–8, third in the American Football Conference (AFC) West.
There is still one week remaining in the 2015 National Football League (NFL) regular season and Oakland's remaining game is a division matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs are second in the AFC West with a 9–5 record. Sadly for the Raiders, even if they win in Week 17, they will end up with only eight wins which is not enough to propel them to the postseason.
The playoffs drought continues for the Raiders as this season is the 13th consecutive that they will miss it.
Oakland's last playoff run was in the 2002 season when they finished with an 11–5 record, making it all the way to Super Bowl XXXVII, but lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 48–21.
