Playing GM of the Raiders (Part 3)

In part 1 of the series I looked at contract tendencies with the Raiders and in part 2 I focused on contract extensions, here we put it all together and see what mess I created.  I ran all the numbers through the OTC Oakland Raiders calculator to see where the Raiders would stand with contracts for these 4 players. The assumptions made are that the Raiders will carry over about $9 million in cap space this year and that the cap will continue to rise by a similar percentage as it has the last few years until the CBA expires at which point it remains flat. No carry over is factored in to future years nor am I cutting any players from the roster. Also I’m putting in an $18 million contract placeholder for Amari Cooper starting in 2019 even though I didn’t really discuss contract terms in the prior part.

Here is the breakdown for the next few years: Continue reading Playing GM of the Raiders (Part 3) »

Playing GM of the Raiders (Part 2)

In part 1 of our look at the Raiders I examined some of the contract strategies of Oakland and set forth a few possible parameters for contract extensions. In part 2 I will make some rough estimates for salaries for the Raiders upcoming free agentsand when the time is right to strike. I’ll order the bigger names down by when I think the decision should be made on the player and try to give an estimate of cap charges that could be used in the future.

Derek Carr

Free Agent Year: 2018
Recommended Extension: 2017 League Year
Continue reading Playing GM of the Raiders (Part 2) »

Playing the GM of the Oakland Raiders (Part 1)

Over the last two or three weeks the Oakland Raiders have been at the top of my questions list The Raiders are finally on the uptick and have some big time players on rookie contracts. Whenever that happens people immediately begin to wonder how they can work all the contracts, so I’ll play fantasy GM of the Raiders and give an overview of their cap situation and offer some of my opinions on their upcoming decisions. To keep the posts from getting too long Ill post this in a few parts with the new section being released each day. In part 1 we’ll look at the Raiders contract strategies before moving on to contractual decisions in part 2. Continue reading Playing the GM of the Oakland Raiders (Part 1) »

Looking at a Potential Extension for Derek Carr

With Derek Carr eligible for a contract extension upon completion of this season, his third in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders and Carr’s representatives will likely sit down this offseason and try to hammer out a deal.  The Raiders have managed their salary cap in fantastic fashion and are poised to extend Carr without too much difficulty.  What will the extension terms look like?  Much depends on how this season finishes out for Carr, but if he continues to play at a high level, he will be one of the highest paid players in the NFL.

Continue reading Looking at a Potential Extension for Derek Carr »

Looking at the Oakland Raiders Contracts and Future Salary Cap

I had a number of requests to look at the Raiders salary cap and contract decisions and since I find the Raiders a pretty fascinating team and this is an ultra slow time for contract news it seems like a good topic. For the second year in a row the Raiders were one of the bigger spenders in free agency so there is some concern with were this leaves them in the future when it comes to re-signing some of their own. Considering where the Raiders were just a few years ago it’s certainly understandable for people to be pessimistic, but it’s probably not warranted. Continue reading Looking at the Oakland Raiders Contracts and Future Salary Cap »

Best & Worst Contracts 2014: Oakland Raiders

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We close out week one with the Oakland Raiders

Best Contract: Tarell Brown

Tarell BrownMuch like last season I don’t think there is a lot to choose from on the Raiders. They have done their best to change the culture and makeup of the franchise, but it’s hard to pick and choose among the contracts they have on the team. For the most part all of Oakland’s contracts follow the same basic pattern but I’m not sure any of them fit the mold of a good or bad contract. Most of the contracts are essentially one year deals for players who are out of their primes and looking to prove they still belong in the NFL at higher than average salaries.

I selected Tarell Brown because I feel he not only has the most upside of their signings but was someone that probably could have gotten a better contract elsewhere. Brown’s deal is a pure one year contract worth $3.5 million, all of which is guaranteed. That is in the same range as players like the always injured Dimitri Patterson, Antonio Cromartie and Charles Tillman, all of whom are coming off worse seasons with more to prove than Brown.

I feel like this is a situation where the Raiders presented Brown with a strong chance to stand out on a defense that does not have a great reputation which could lead to a bigger payday down the line. It is the ultimate “prove it” contract in that he should get more exposure and credit than he had before and thus has every incentive to play exceptionally well for Oakland. While you would have liked to have seen this as a two or three year contract, the clear tradeoff for getting Brown at this figure was the one year contract so that he could cash in next season. The Raiders should get the most out of Brown in 2014 at a pretty reasonable price.

Worst Contract: Sebastian Janikowski

Sebastian JanikowskiI was tempted to go with Austin Howard simply because the Raiders clearly made a mistake with the fine print in the contract, but there really is no comparison between that and the continual overpaying of Sebastian Janikowski.

Last year the Raiders finally had a chance to get things right with their kicker. He was in the final year of his outlandish contract and the Raiders finally should have been poised to move on. GM Reggie McKenzie had purged the roster of almost every bad deal and this contract was one of the lasting memories of everything wrong with the Raider organization in the 2000’s. But Janikowski is apparently like one of the characters of the Matrix movies that survives the reboot and lives forever.

Amazingly the Raiders rewarded Janikowski with a new contract that would guarantee him $8 million, which worked out on a yearly basis to about double the closest guarantees at the position. The Raiders had moved away from using signing bonuses but gave one to Janikowski anyway such that he would still have $1 million in dead money in 2015 if they cut ties with him.

Janikowski’s contract ranks in the top 10 of the Raiders annual salary structure, top 3 in total value for the team among veterans, and first overall among kickers in the NFL. He has never been the best kicker in the NFL and only been selected to participate in one Pro Bowl. The Raiders making him highest paid and guaranteed kicker just defies all logic for whatever the team seems to be trying to accomplish as they rebuild their franchise.

2013’s Best and Worst Raiders Contracts:

2013 Best Contract: Charles Woodson (Starting safety that re-signed with team)

2013 Worst Contract: Sebastian Janikowski (Signed extension with Raiders-See above)

Click Here to Check out OTC’s other Best and Worst Contracts from around the NFL!

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