Raiders Re-Sign or Realign: Seth Roberts will be back with the Silver and Black… for now

September 10, 2012: Raiders owner Mark Davis jokes with general manager Reggie McKenzie before the game on Monday, September 10, 2020 at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, CA. The Chargers defeated the Raiders 22-14.

There has been a lot of talk this offseason about the Oakland Raiders potentially upgrading the slot receiver position after Seth Roberts has continually shown issues with drops. Many believe that the offense, and Derek Carr, would have been even better this season if not for all of the dropped passes. And while Michael Crabtree may have dropped the most passes, Roberts has the biggest issue with dropped passes. Unlike Roberts, Crabtree played the last quarter of the season with an injured finger that surely had an impact on his ability to catch the ball.

While Roberts is a good route runner and has produced for the Raiders, the issues with drops have plagued him since he first joined the team. It’s not like Roberts is a major problem for the Raiders, but he does represent a position that the Raiders could and might want to upgrade. These days, the slot receiver is more akin to a starting receiver than a backup. Much like the rest of the NFL, the Raiders use three wide receiver sets fairly often so their slot receiver sees a lot of action. Given the importance of the position, you don’t want to settle.

But before we ever get to a point where the Raiders can upgrade, I guarantee they will have already signed Roberts. Why? He’s an Exclusive Rights Free Agent. Without getting into the details, that means they can have him at a rather cheap price if they want to and Roberts has no choice but to accept that reality.

Because of that, I’m sure Oakland will re-sign Roberts. But I’m not quite as sure that Roberts will be on the 53 man roster come opening day. If the Raiders are able to find someone through free agency or the draft who is a better slot receiver, Roberts could be out of a job in Oakland. Sure, Andre Holmes is deeper on the depth chart than Roberts, but he brings a ton of value on special teams and Roberts does not.

It seems fairly obvious that the Raiders should re-sign Seth Roberts, the real question is whether or not he will still be a member of the team come the 2017 season.

 

(Visited 65 times, 1 visits today)

james arcellana

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *