Raiders Interested In CB Byron Jones
Tom Brady isn’t the only big name on the Raiders’ list of targets. Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the team is expected to show “legitimate interest” in cornerback Byron Jones.
[RELATED: James Bradberry Seeking $15MM/Season]
The Raiders are sitting on more than $50MM in cap space, and they could naturally use some reinforcement on defense. While 2019 second-rounder Trayvon Mullen showed that he can be a dependable starter, pairing him with someone of Jones’ caliber could create one of the top tandems in the league.
Jones has spent his entire career with the Cowboys, and he earned a Pro Bowl nod and second-team All-Pro recognition during the 2018 season. This past year, he finished with 46 tackles, six passes defended, and one forced fumble. Bonsignore notes that he only allowed 106 yards after the catch last season.
With the Cowboys focused on retaining Dak Prescott and wideout Amari Cooper, it’s been expected that Jones will end up switching squads this offseason (although Dallas “will at least do their due diligence” on the defensive back). Jones will be joined at the top of the cornerback market by James Bradberry and Chris Harris.
Chargers, Colts, Raiders Meet With Tom Brady’s Camp
The biggest domino on the quarterback free agent market continues to move into position. Tom Brady‘s representation met with the Chargers, Raiders and Colts on Thursday at the Combine, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Teams are not permitted to negotiate during these meetings, as they are before the legal tampering period. But the Brady market continues to take shape. While this year’s tampering period will not commence until March 16, the Patriots may view these late-February meetings as a key part of the Brady process.
Brady leaving New England is starting to look like an increasingly live proposition, but other teams discussing the future Hall of Fame quarterback will help the Patriots know what they’re up against. No Pats negotiations are on tap yet, however.
The Chargers and Raiders have been linked to Brady for weeks; the Colts are a new team in the Brady mix. But many around the league view Philip Rivers as the likelier Indianapolis get. With former Chargers offensive staffers Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni in command of the Colts’ attack, the team is interested in Rivers. But Brady is now on Indy’s radar too.
Despite being four years older, Brady finished ahead of Rivers in 2019 QBR (16th to 23rd) and is obviously the more accomplished player. But the Brady market looks to be more aggressive than the one forming for Rivers. The Colts were in the AFC divisional round in 2018; they would be an intriguing team for Brady, who wants to land in a competitive situation.
At the week’s outset, Jim Irsay said everything was on the table regarding the Colts’ quarterback situation. Ex-Brady backup Jacoby Brissett is penciled in as the starter, but it’s looking more and more likely he will not be back as Indianapolis’ QB1 by September.
The Patriots are in the position of needing to upgrade at the skill positions — potentially in order to convince Brady to stay — while uncertain of their cap space. The CBA also looms over this situation, considering the Pats’ 2019 Brady deal attached void years onto the passer’s contract and would tag the team with $13.5MM in dead money March 18. That cap hit cannot be spread out unless a new CBA is agreed to in the meantime.
Latest On Raiders QB Derek Carr
The Raiders aren’t necessarily committed to Derek Carr. Raiders general manager Mike Mayock told reporters that they’d consider moving on from their quarterback if there’s a “chance to upgrade.”
“Derek played at a high level last season,” Mayock said (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Twitter). “I’m very happy with Derek. But as I’ve said before, we will evaluate every position on our roster and if there’s a chance to upgrade, we will look into that.”
We heard earlier this month that teams were preparing offers for the 28-year-old, but the Raiders were still determining how to proceed at the position. There have been rumbling that the Raiders plan to make a run at Tom Brady, but they won’t replace Carr with just any quarterback. Vic Tafur of The Athletic previous noted that he’s “not sure they see [Teddy] Bridgewater as an upgrade over Carr.” Mayock and head coach Jon Gruden have continued to support Carr throughout their tenures with the organization, but it sounds like they’d be ready to move on if the right opportunity presents itself.
While Carr has yet to replicate the team and personal success of 2016, he’s still put up solid numbers over the past few years. He finished last season with career-highs in passing yards (4,054) and completion percentage (70.4) while tossing 21 touchdowns vs. eight interceptions.
Raiders Hope To Hold Minicamp In Nevada
The Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas has been mired in dysfunction and mismanagement. While the team remains on schedule to play all of their home games in Las Vegas next season, the offseason plan remains up in the air. With training camp scheduled to take place in Napa, California, which is currently set to be their last action in the Bay Area, it was expected that offseason minicamps would likely be in California as well.
However, per Jerry McDonald of The Mercury News, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden told reporters that the team plans to hold minicamp at their Henderson, Nevada facility. Minicamp is scheduled for mid-June and the Henderson facility is still under construction. Furthermore, the Raiders have made no official announcement about a move to Nevada before the season starts. In fact, Gruden himself said the team would not move to Nevada until the conclusion of this year’s training camp.
It should not come as a huge surprise that the Raiders move is coming together rather sloppily. Given the massive undertaking of shifting an organization’s operations between states, delays are sure to happen. Of course, the Raiders reputation of organizational incompetence seems to leave an added layer of uncertainty.
Raiders To Move On From LB Tahir Whitehead?
It sounds like Tahir Whitehead‘s time with the Raiders has come to an end. In his review of the Raiders’ linebackers corps, Vic Tafur of The Athletic writes that “[i]t doesn’t appear” the veteran will return next year.
While Whitehead may have been a team captain last season, this wouldn’t be overly surprising. The 29-year-old put up some of his worst numbers since becoming a full-time starter in 2016, finishing with 108 tackles, six tackles for loss, and one pass defended.
The Raiders can also save north of $6MM against the cap by cutting Whitehead. The former Lions draft pick signed a three-year, $19MM contract (including $6.27MM guaranteed) with the Raiders back in 2018.
As Tafur writes, it’s been a while since the Raiders got top production out of the linebackers position. This includes 2019, when eight players “combined for zero sacks, zero forced fumbles, zero fumble recoveries and nine passes broken up.” Marquel Lee is likely the only linebacker who will return next season, leading Tafur to surmise that the front office will either turn to free agency or select a linebacker in one of the first three rounds of the draft.
Extra Points: AB, Castonzo, Cowboys, Browns
Antonio Brown will soon be battling the Raiders off the field. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweets that the wideout’s grievance against the organization will be heard by an arbitrator in May. Brown filed a grievance over lost wages, including more than $30MM in guaranteed money.
Meanwhile, his grievance against the Patriots has yet to be scheduled, according to Fowler. Brown would be looking to recoup some of his $9MM signing bonus.
Let’s check out some more notes from around the NFL…
- Colts offensive lineman Anthony Castonzo is set to hit free agency, and GM Chris Ballard is confident that the 31-year-old can still contribute for several years. The executive recently said during a radio appearance that the left tackle has three or four years left in the tank (via Albert Breer of SI.com).
- Keith O’Quinn won’t continue as the Cowboys special teams coach, but he’ll stick around with the organization. The veteran coach has accepted the role of director of advance scouting (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com). O’Quinn has been with the Cowboys for 13 years, including the past 10 on the coaching staff. He spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons as Cowboys’ ST coach, but he was replaced by John Fassel after Mike McCarthy was hired as head coach.
- The Browns announced today that Jeremy Garrett has been hired as the assistant defensive line coach. He’ll work alongside DL coach Chris Kiffin, who was actually a graduate assistant at Ole Miss back when Garrett was a player. “I think we have both grown as coaches,” Garrett told Andrew Gribble of the team’s website. “I bet night and day he has grown from when he was a GA and coached me, and I have grown from when I was a player and starting off my coaching career. So I think we are both at a point that we have grown a ton and we are looking forward to continuing that growth together.”
Teams To Inquire About Trading For Derek Carr?
One of the most interesting storylines to monitor during the 2020 offseason is what the Raiders do at quarterback. There have been some rumors as the team prepares to move to Las Vegas that they might not be entirely sold on Derek Carr, and for the first time we have some real reporting that other teams think the Raiders might be inclined to move on.
There is a “growing sense” within the league that teams are preparing to inquire about trading for Carr, according to Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic (Twitter link). However the Raiders are still looking at their available options before determining what to do with Carr, Vic Tafur of The Athletic cautions in a tweet. The last public comments from the Raiders on the situation came about a month ago, when GM Mike Mayock gave an interesting interview.
“As far as what the future holds, I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told you last year. About every position. And that is, my job is to evaluate every position and try and make us better. And if I can, I will, and if I can’t, I won’t. And that holds true at every position,” Mayock said of Carr at the time, very clearly hedging on his future with the team.
Of course, there have been reports that the Raiders plan to pursue Tom Brady. That’s still a bit of a long-shot though, and they might have to end up choosing between Carr and one of the second-tier available options. To that end, Tafur added in his tweet that he’s “not sure they see [Teddy] Bridgewater as an upgrade over Carr.”
It seems like things are still in flux, but that Carr playing elsewhere in 2020 is a very real possibility. Whatever happens, this offseason is shaping up to have the wildest game of musical chairs for quarterbacks in quite some time.
Prediction Points Stefon Diggs To Vegas
- Linked to Tom Brady, the Raiders also have a major need at wide receiver. This deficiency led Sheil Kapadia of The Athletic to predict the Vikings will send Stefon Diggs to Las Vegas (subscription required). The Raiders guaranteed Tyrell Williams‘ salary but remain on the lookout for receiving help, which will likely be required to entice Brady to leave New England (a scenario Kapadia also includes as one of his bold predictions). Diggs is signed through the 2023 season, and his $14.5MM cap hit will be much tougher for the Vikings to absorb than the Raiders. Still, Minnesota’s top-heavy setup at wide receiver will not make Diggs cheap. At 26, he is three years younger than Adam Thielen, thus raising the price of a prospective trade.
DE/LB Lamarr Houston Announces Retirement
Lamarr Houston has officially decided to hang them up. Today, he signed a one-day contract with the Raiders and announced his retirement, per Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com.
Houston entered the league as a defensive end, and the Raiders made him a second-round in 2010. He spent four seasons with the organization, appearing in each of their 64 games (60 starts). He averaged 69 tackles, five sacks, and 1.5 forced fumbles between the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
He ended up inking a five-year, $35MM contract ($15MM guaranteed) with the Bears prior to the 2014 campaign, but his first season in Chicago was derailed by a torn ACL. He returned as a linebacker in 2015, appearing in 16 games and compiling a career-high eight sacks, but he once again landed on the IR in 2016.
Houston split the 2017 campaign between the Texans and Bears (second stint), and he worked out for the Raiders, Jets, Seahawks, and Vikings back in 2018. While he hasn’t played in the league since 2017, he didn’t officially retire until today. In total, the 32-year-old finished his career having collected 302 tackles, 30 sacks, and five forced fumbles in 100 games.
Raiders To Let DeAndre Washington Test Market
It’s possible that DeAndre Washington will return to the Raiders, but not before he chats with some other teams, according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic hears. 
Last week, the Raiders re-upped Jalen Richard on a two-year, $7MM deal with $4.6MM guaranteed that could pay up to $8MM through performance bonuses. That deal doesn’t necessarily push Washington out of the picture, but the Raiders’ feeling is that it might be hard to keep both ‘backs, Tafur hears.
Washington, meanwhile, is still scheduled to reach free agency in March. Serving as the other backup to rookie Josh Jacobs, Washington had 108 carries for 387 yards (3.6 yards per carry) versus Richard’s 39 carries for 145 yards (3.7 ypc, in a smaller sample). Their receiving numbers were somewhat similar, too – Washington had 36 grabs for 292 yards; Richard had 36 catches for 323 yards.
Richard was prioritized over Washington, in part, for his route-running and pass-blocking. Both Richard and Washington stand at 5’8″ and Tafur notes that the Raiders could probably use a larger back in the mix.
Washington, who turns 27 later this month, first joined the Raiders as a fifth-round pick in 2016. As a rookie, he impressed with 5.4 yards per tote on a limited sample size of 87 carries. Since then, he’s been a solid backup for the silver-and-black, but he has yet to replicate that production. Over the course of his four-year rookie deal, he’s earned a total of $2.34MM in base salary.