Thursday, July 4, 2013

Oakland Raiders Can't Afford Any More Talent

There is something to be said for building through the draft. It is a sound strategy for stability and gives coaches time to really develop a player. However, with fans and owners wanting to win now waiting for a guy to get up to NFL-speed is not always an option.

That's what free agency is for; a chance to grab proven talent to fill the holes on your roster. The Oakland Raiders could use some help if they are going to become respectable this season, but as luck--bad luck--would have it they don't appear to be in a position to afford anyone.

"Put me in Coach!" planetc1/Flickr
Due to some pretty poor front office decisions the Oakland Raiders are going to be strapped for cash for the 2013 season. Of the $123 million salary cap that the Raiders have to spend on talent just over 40 percent of it is going to go to talent on other teams (and guys not even in the NFL anymore).

The Raiders have an incredible $49.6 million in dead money being applied to this year's cap (dead money refers to money guaranteed/owed to players that no longer play for the team).

Bad decisions are going to happen. It is hard to know if a guy just had one great season or if he had his breakout year. It is also just as tough to know if a college player is going to be just as good in the NFL as in college.

But $49.6 million in bad decisions? Ouch!

Luckily the team was able to make a trade for what could be the quarterback of the future in Matt Flynn. Darren McFadden is one of the better running backs in the league (when healthy) and there is a lot of potential in wide receivers Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore.

If the offense could actually take some pressure of the defense than the scoreboard might be in their favor at the end of games more often than not.

So even with 40 percent of their salary cap going to guys not on the team there is hope for the Oakland Raiders. The road to success is just going to be a bit tougher.


Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 5, 2013 at 9:09 AM

    $49 mill in bad decisions from who? Not Reggie he had to dump those players overpaid underperforming. And why don't you mention that he will have all of that dead money back to use next season which is part of his plan. If everyone is patient he will turn this around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Travis PulverJuly 5, 2013 at 9:44 AM

      I could have, but my focus was on this season not the next.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 5, 2013 at 1:25 PM

    all they do is talk negative abut raiders ..the hell with those anal list ...fuck ron jaworski too... raiders kicked eagles ass in superbowl......raiders will b ok

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Travis PulverJuly 5, 2013 at 2:24 PM

      With the exception of the language I agree with you. In spite of some of the bad personnel decisions these guys aren't bad. Once this dead money gets off the books and they can really hit the market the rest of the league might want to watch out for these guys.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJuly 6, 2013 at 7:30 AM

    People have to understand; like it or not, this is an entirely new franchise. They're just wearing the same uniform. Al Davis made SO MANY awful, terrible, mind-blowingly bad decisions the last ten years that's is a wonder there wasn't a league take over of the team. Reggie can't polish a turd. He's got to purge this team of all the uselessness that Al brought on & literally start all over, with one hand tied around his balls because of the dead money situation. Some of the people he brought on recently, won't be there in two years, or even one. Some will last longer. Give him time.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)