Raiders Meet With Willie Snead
The Raiders hosted free agent wide receiver Willie Snead on Thursday (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). If all goes well, Snead could be the latest addition to Las Vegas’ new-look WR group.
[RELATED: Ravens Express Interest In Sammy Watkins]
The Ravens have been searching for solutions at receiver, but they have not expressed much — or any – interest in retaining Snead. Snead, who has spent the last three years in Baltimore, kicked off his tenure with 62 catches for 651 yards and a touchdown in 2018. However, his targets and production have roughly been cut in half ever since. Between the last two years, he has a combined stat line of 64/771, though he does have eight touchdowns to his credit in that span.
Snead started his career with the Saints and made his name as a slot receiver. He’d be an interesting fit for the Raiders, who have lost Tyrell Williams and Nelson Agholor. To help fill the void, they’ve signed John Brown and re-upped Zay Jones.
Marcus Mariota Has No-Trade Clause In New Raiders Deal
Marcus Mariota took a pay cut in order to stay with the Raiders. But, in exchange, the backup quarterback received a no-trade clause, according to a league source who spoke with Greg A. Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal (on Twitter).
Mariota was originally set to earn $10.725MM, a hefty price for a QB2. Rather than getting released or traded, he agreed to lower his salary to $3.5MM. Of course, Mariota’s new deal makes him much more attractive to teams in need of QB support, so Mariota insisted on maintaining some control over his future.
No-trade clauses are pretty rare in the NFL. As of late February, these were the only nine players in the NFL with veto power in their contracts:
- Drew Brees, QB (Saints)
- Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, OL (Chiefs)
- Jimmy Garoppolo, QB (49ers
- Jimmy Graham, TE (Bears)
- DeAndre Hopkins, WR (Cardinals)
- Patrick Mahomes, QB (Chiefs)
- Deshaun Watson, QB (Texans)
- J.J. Watt, DL (Cardinals)
- Russell Wilson, QB (Seahawks)
Now, Mariota is an unexpected member of the club, so any teams with interest in the former second overall pick may have to look elsewhere.
Marcus Mariota To Take Pay-Cut, Stay With Raiders
It looks like Marcus Mariota will be staying with the Raiders after all. The quarterback is expected to sign a reworked deal with Las Vegas that will drop his salary to $3.5MM, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).
We heard last week that the team was going to “move on” if he refused to cut his compensation, either through a trade or release, and that a divorce was “likely.” It was reported at the time that Mariota was reluctant to cut his deal because he felt like he had options on the market, but perhaps seeing a few more quarterbacks get signed made him less confident in having those options. Now, he’ll sign a one-year deal worth $3.5MM that can be worth up to $8MM with inceentives.
Rapsheet writes that “it was up and down the last few weeks, but he recently made the call to stick around.” In a follow-up tweet, Rapoport notes the original pay-cut offer was for $3MM, and that Mariota negotiated up and got himself some upside. He had previously been scheduled to take home $10.725MM, a hefty price for a backup to Derek Carr.
Mariota appeared in one game in place of an injured Carr last season and showed fairly well against the Chargers on national TV, completing 17 of 28 passes for 226 yards a touchdown and an interception. He also added 88 yards and another score rushing.
Mariota is now on a very trade-friendly contract should a team come calling. We heard around the Super Bowl that there was legit interest in the former second overall pick, but then that interest reportedly cooled significantly.
Mariota spent his first five years in the league as Tennessee’s starter, but was benched by the Titans in favor of Ryan Tannehill midway through the 2019 season. Jon Gruden added him as his high-level clipboard holder last offseason. The 27-year-old will enter free agency next spring.
Raiders To Sign Darius Philon
Las Vegas continues to add depth to their defensive line, and their latest signing is an interesting one. The Raiders have agreed to terms on a deal with Darius Philon, the team announced on Twitter.
This one came a bit out of left field, because Philon hasn’t suited up since the 2018 season. He was originally drafted by the Chargers in 2015, and spent the next four years with the team. He flashed plenty of potential during his last couple seasons there, and started 13 games in 2018. He had 33 tackles, seven for a loss, four sacks, and a forced fumble that year.
That earned him a two-year, $10MM deal from the Cardinals in 2019, but he never played a down for the team. That’s because he was arrested that August for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and cut shortly thereafter. We haven’t heard much from him since then, as he didn’t play that season or in 2020.
He’s apparently ready to make a comeback now, and is still only 27. Presumably signed very cheaply, he could be a decent low-risk flyer for a Raiders team in need of help along the defensive front.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/22/21
Today’s minor moves:
Carolina Panthers
- Released: K Lirim Hajrullahu
Los Angeles Chargers
- Re-signed: TE Stephen Anderson
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: DL Matt Dickerson
Miami Dolphins
- Signed: WR/QB: Kai Locksley
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Ola Adeniyi
Raiders Re-Sign Andre James
The Raiders have re-signed offensive lineman Andre James with a new three-year contract worth $12.5MM (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The deal includes roughly $6MM guaranteed and keeps him beyond his would-be final year before restricted free agency. James, billed as the team’s center of the future, is now locked in through 2023. 
[RELATED: Raiders Trade Hudson To Cardinals]
Pro Bowl center Rodney Hudson, right tackle Trent Brown, and longtime right guard Gabe Jackson are out of the picture, leaving James with an opportunity to take the next step forward. It’s not clear on how the team will use James and newly-acquired center Nick Martin, however, but both players figure to factor into the front five.
The Raiders were set to release Hudson outright before they struck a deal with the Cardinals last week. After paving the way for three 1,000-yard rushing seasons, he leaves some big shoes to fill. Just last year, Pro Football Focus graded the veteran as its No. 8 overall center in the NFL.
Raiders Prioritizing Extension for LT Kolton Miller
The Raiders have undergone a major shakeup of their offensive line this month, trading high-priced blockers Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson, and Trent Brown. The club did bring back guards Denzelle Good and Richie Incognito while adding former Texans pivot Nick Martin, and according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Raiders also want to keep one of their former first-rounders in the fold for the long haul (Twitter link).
Bonsignore says Las Vegas is prioritizing an extension for left tackle Kolton Miller, the No. 15 overall pick of the 2018 draft. The team will need to decide whether to pick up Miller’s fifth-year option for 2022 — valued at $10.88MM — by early May, but that is a mere formality at this point.
Negotiations could certainly be interesting. There are now three left tackles — San Francisco’s Trent Williams, Green Bay’s David Bakhtiari, and Houston’s Laremy Tunsil — earning over $20MM per year, and Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley is pulling down $19.75MM per year. But all four of those players have at least one Pro Bowl to their credit, while Miller has not earned any such accolades. Plus, because the Raiders can keep him under club control for two more seasons at below-market rates, Miller may need to give up a little earning power if he truly wants the security of a long-term deal.
But Miller has certainly proven himself worthy of a new contract. Many believed Jon Gruden reached when he selected the UCLA product, and those rumblings only intensified when Miller struggled in his rookie campaign. Still, the club saw promise in the 6-8, 325-pounder and stuck with him on the blindside even after signing Brown to a major free agent deal in March 2019.
Miller has since rewarded that faith, as he has turned in back-to-back solid seasons and still appears to be on an upward trajectory. Pro Football Focus considered him the 34th-best tackle in the game in 2020 (out of 79 qualifiers), but he earned the 15th-best pass-blocking score. His run-blocking mark pulled him down a bit, but again, there is reason to believe he will only continue to improve.
And he may soon become the elder statesman of the OL room. As Bonsignore tweets, one of the primary reasons the team parted with a few high-priced O-linemen over the past several weeks is because of the depth of the 2021 class of blockers, so look for Gruden and GM Mike Mayock to add some reinforcements to QB Derek Carr‘s collection of bodyguards next month.
Draft Pick Updates: Vikings, Saints, Raiders, Patriots
The Vikings are down a draft pick. Per Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (on Twitter), the Vikings have forfeited a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft (No. 242).
“A mistake was made, we take responsibility and we respect the league’s decision and will move forward,” general manager Rick Spielman said in a statement.
Per Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com, the punishment is regarding an infraction from 2019. There was some kind of violation of a practice squad player’s contract, but it’s uncertain who the player was or what the violation was.
Three Vikings executives were also fined $10K each, per Smith.
Some more draft notes from around the NFL:
- Neither the Saints nor Raiders will lose a draft due to violations of the COVID-19 policies, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. “They are not forfeiting them,” McCarthy said. “Neither team will lose those picks.” According to the reporter, there were rumblings that New Orleans would lose a seventh-round pick following a “mask-less locker room celebration,” and the Raiders were expected to lose a sixth-rounder due to multiple violations. While the NFL didn’t provide any context on their decision, Florio assumes both organizations appealed their penalties and were successful.
- When the NFL announced the compensatory picks for the 2021 draft, the Patriots did not have a fifth-round pick. However, a source confirmed to PFT that New England had indeed received a fifth-rounder in the upcoming draft. According to Smith, the NFL “realized a mistake in its calculation of the complex formula for determining compensatory picks,” leading to the extra Patriots selection.
- Thanks to the aforementioned compensatory-pick audit by the NFL, the Falcons are also moving two slots in the fifth round, according to Smith. Further, while the NFL only allows the addition of 32 compensatory picks each year, they’ve made an exception this time around. Thanks to the additional Patriots draft pick, the Bears normally wouldn’t have received that final compensatory pick; the NFL and NFL Players Association allowed Chicago to ultimately keep that selection.
Eagles To Meet With Adoree’ Jackson
Adoree’ Jackson is going on an NFC East tour. After his scheduled meeting with the Giants, the former Titans cornerback will get together with the Eagles (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). In addition, the Rams, Chiefs, Raiders and Cardinals have also shown interest, according to Mike Jones of USA Today (on Twitter). 
[RELATED: Giants To Meet With Jackson]
The Eagles have yet to add a cornerback this week, even though it’s one of their biggest needs. The group is headlined by Darius Slay, but they don’t have much after that. Also, Slay was less-than-stellar in 2020. With Avonte Maddox set to return to his preferred slot duties, the Eagles will need to find a CB2 one way or another. Jackson, who looked to be one of the league’s best young corners in 2019, wouldn’t be a bad choice.
Jackson would also be a good fit for the Rams, who have yet to make their mark in free agency this year. They probably won’t be able to offer him the best deal, but the USC product could be swayed by the opportunity to return home.
Raiders To Sign C Nick Martin
After trading their center of the past six years, the Raiders appear to have settled on a replacement. They are signing former Texans snapper Nick Martin, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Martin’s work will not remind most of Rodney Hudson‘s, with the since-traded center being a three-time Pro Bowler. Still, the Raiders figure to save substantially by replacing Hudson with Martin.
Transitioning to their Nick Caserio regime, the Texans cut Martin after he spent the past four seasons as their starting center. While he did not fare as well as Hudson did in this span, Martin did receive an $11MM-per-year extension from the previous Texans regime. Martin will attempt to rebound in Las Vegas.
The Raiders have made some interesting decisions this week. Their three highest-paid O-linemen — Hudson, right tackle Trent Brown and longtime right guard Gabe Jackson — are gone. The team has since re-signed Richie Incognito after cutting him, and brought back the player who replaced Incognito post-injury last season, Denzelle Good. Las Vegas appears to still have a hole at right tackle, but the other four spots along its offensive line may be set.
However, third-year blocker Andre James may factor into the equation at center. This should be considered James’ job to lose, Vic Tafur of The Athletic tweets. While Martin has a massive experience edge (62 starts to one), he might not be a lock to start in Vegas.