NAPA, Calif. (AP) - The Oakland Raiders are parting ways with veteran fullback Lorenzo Neal, ending his brief stay with the team.

Neal, who signed with the Raiders in May, was expected to push Oren O'Neal and Luke Lawton for the starting fullback job but became expendable when O'Neal impressed Oakland's coaching staff with his recovery from major knee surgery.

Neal was released on Wednesday.

"I'm just preparing for where we need to be as a football team, really, and what we thought we have, and whether that was enough and all that," coach Tom Cable said. "So it was time to go in a different direction there."

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