Predicting who the Raiders might cut this offseason
The time has come for the Oakland Raiders to re-sign Khalil Mack and that likely means trimming some fat from the roster in order to make more room for a monster sized contract. And as we all know, Reggie McKenzie writes his contracts specifically for this occasion, making it easy to cut players without taking on dead money hits against the cap. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the prime candidates to be cut this offseason.
Michael Crabtree - Cap Savings: $7.687 million
There have already been reports that Crabtree will be cut this offseason after an underwhelming second half of the season. Along with reports of his being cut to save money are reports that he became disgruntled late in the year. As we saw, he was barely used in the final game and he commented on his displeasure with that after the game. One has to wonder if his displeasure resulted in being one of the few offensive players who actually spoke out about Todd Downing and his poor scheme.
Either way, those reports came out under the old regime and Jon Gruden may have different plans. The man being linked to him as offensive coordinator, John Morton, worked with Crabtree in San Francisco. Plus, Gruden runs a West Coast offense and possession receivers like Crabtree are very important. I would not be surprised if Crabtree ends up being kept around despite reports to the contrary.
Bruce Irvin - Cap Savings: $8.25 million
Bruce Irvin seems like the only guy on this list who is guaranteed to return to the Silver and Black next season. After a terrible start to the year, Irvin came on strong once Ken Norton, Jr. was replaced by John Pagano. Irvin ended the season with better stats than in 2016 when he had a very solid year. Irvin had 8 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 3 pass deflections and 10 stuffs. Given how well he played at the end of the year, I would be shocked if the Raiders decided to part ways with him this offseason.
Sean Smith - Cap Savings: $8.5 million
Much like Irvin, Smith also played much better under Pagano than he did under Norton. But he also played terrible last season while Irvin really only had a half a season of poor play with the Raiders. Oakland is in desperate need of better corner play and if Smith can continue to play at the level he played to finish off this season, it would make sense keeping him around. The problem is, that’s a big if and it’s hard to know whether or not he can really continue to play at that level in Oakland. The only way I see Smith continuing to play for the Raiders is if he agrees to take a pay cut. Otherwise, it’s too big of a risk to pay him that much money without being certain he will play well enough to deserve such a salary.
David Amerson - Cap Savings: $6 million
I think David Amerson is as good as gone. He was struggling early in the season before getting hurt and missing a ton of time. Perhaps if he had played the rest of the season Amerson would have been able to show that he was still worth keeping. But as it played out, there simply isn’t a whole lot of a reason to keep him around now. He will save the team some money and is clearly a guy who the Raiders would like to upgrade over.
Donald Penn - Cap Savings: $5.131 million
I could see this one going either way. There have been reports that Penn’s absence from training camp had an impact on his play as well as the team chemistry as a whole. Penn played decently well this season but was not the dominant left tackle that he was when he first joined the Raiders. Oakland needs to start thinking about the future of the tackle position sooner rather than later and now might be the time to move on from Penn and find someone younger and cheaper to replace him. That, or they could find someone who isn’t cheaper but is a whole lot better if they choose to go the free agency route. Either way, I would not be surprised if Penn is cut this offseason.
Marshawn Lynch - Cap Savings: $6 million
As much as I would love to see Lynch come back for another season, I feel like he is probably gone one way or another. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if Lynch decided to retire again before the Raiders even have the chance to cut him. He played very well in the second half of the season and was one of if not the best player on offense for Oakland this year. But there are reports that the special treatment he received from the Raiders rubbed teammates the wrong way and I can’t imagine him getting that same treatment from Jon Gruden and his staff. Plus, this can’t be the way Marshawn imagined the season going when he decided to come out of retirement. You have to imagine he was expecting to play for a Super Bowl contender, not a dysfunctional disaster.
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