The Raiders have signed wide receiver Jordy Nelson, as first reported by his former teammate James Jones (on Twitter). It’s a two-year, $15MM deal with $13MM guaranteed. The news has been confirmed by Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). 
Nelson was a cap casualty of the Packers, but several teams were eager to bring him into the fold. The Raiders beat out the Seahawks and Saints, who were also making a strong push for him.
The Raiders released Michael Crabtree on Thursday in order to make room for Nelson. At this stage of their careers, not everyone would prefer Nelson to Crabtree, although the Raiders’ new head coach obviously does. Nelson is coming off of his worst season, statistically speaking, since 2012. He caught 53 passes for 482 yards and six touchdowns. Crabtree, meanwhile, had his worst season as a Raider, though he had 58 grabs for 618 yards and eight TDs.
Nelson now slots in as the Raiders’ No. 2 wide receiver behind Amari Cooper, as shown on Roster Resource. Seth Roberts and Cordarrelle Patterson are also on the depth chart. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Raiders continue to explore the wide receiver market for depth, though there will also be options in the draft.
This will be a chance for Nelson to bounce back. Although he was only selected to one Pro Bowl (in 2014) during his run as Aaron Rodgers‘ favorite target, Nelson became the Packers’ second-leading receiver scorer. Only Don Hutson caught more touchdowns as a Packer than Nelson’s 69. He has four 1,000-yard seasons to his credit, with the most recent coming in 2016 despite having suffered an ACL tear in 2015.
The former second-round pick and Super Bowl hero caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards and 14 TDs during his last full season with Rodgers, and the Raiders are clearly banking he can return to close to that level with this signing.
[RELATED: Raiders Depth Chart]
So they traded Crabtree for Nelson
and more money…
Except Crabtree isn’t on the Packers
Pretty sure he’s talking about the raiders
More like they traded him for nobody
I disagree with ditching Crabtree and signing Nelson. Nelson lacks the most important ability in football- durability.
More important than that…. A brain. Nelson is a lot smarter player. Gruden prefers coachable guys that make others around him better. Neither are big time difference makers. Crabtree is not a Gruden guy and brings less to a locker room. I understand both sides but Gruden will use Nelson to coach the other guys up, they will draft a receiver or two.
Wait, what? As opposed to Crabtrees durability? haha
In 9 seasons Crabtree has only started all 16 games 4 or 5 times. He’s not exactly the pinnacle of durable receivers
Way to go Jordy, happy for you! Just wish this deal could have been agreed to by the Packers in a reworked deal
Nah the Pack need to shore up their defense with this money. The offense will be fine without Nelson, especially now that they have a legit ground game with Williams and Jones.
Hmm, I said if he signed for anything less than $6M a year I was going to be disappointed the Packers didn’t resign. At $7.5M with Oakland I wonder if he would have taken $6M at GB.
GB reportedly offered him one year 1.1 million. GB wanted nothing to do with him.
That’s a lot of clams
More offense for a team that needs defense more than anything…
If anything it’s a downgrade. Crabtree > Nelson at this point in their careers
Nelson’s character and presence in the locker room > Crabtree’s cancer
This doesn’t make sense. Let’s pay a guy coming off his worst ever season and a previous serious injury more than the younger and better receiver.
For all of you who can’t grasp this signing, Crabtree has gotten suspended, started fights, split up the locker room, and quit in games during his tenure in Oakland. It was mind boggling that he was on the roster up to this point. Crabtree was part of the reason this super bowl contending team went 6-10. So they went out and got a good character guy where the wr coach and gm came from there. And Nelson is the exact type of receiver Crabtree is. Both moves were extremely obvious the second Nelson got caught.
Cut
Thanks Oakland! I didn’t want him in Seattle.
I will miss crabtree one hand catch game.i think Nelson will be a good fit has a great attitude Cooper need to show consistent games he can catch not drop balls one more guy they need is Eric Decker