Raiders Sign T's Roger Saffold and Austin Howard

[Aso]

Raiders agreed to terms with RT Austin Howard, formerly of the Jets, on a five-year, $30 million contract with $15 million guaranteed.

Howard, 27, spent the last two seasons starting at right tackle in New York. In 2013, he graded out 47th among 76 qualifiers in Pro Football Focus' tackle ratings. (New bookend Rodger Saffold came in 18th among 81 guards, though he will play left tackle in Oakland.) Howard is a 6-foot-7, 333-pound power blocker, though he struggled in the run game last season. Either way, it's a solid pickup for GM Reggie McKenzie at the end of free agency's first day.

Raiders agreed to terms with LT Rodger Saffold, formerly of the Rams, on a five-year, $42.5 million contract.

Saffold gets $21 million guaranteed, an astronomical amount for a player who hasn't played a full 16-game season since his 2010 rookie year. The Raiders had to overpay to get Saffold to come to Oakland where he's going to play left tackle. Second-year OT Menelik Watson will try and fill in at right tackle.

Didn't really like the Saffold signing at first since they are gonna rely on him to play LT and I think Veldheer is a better pass blocker and he wound up going to Arizona for cheaper. But I definitely like the Austin Howard signing.

[Aso]

Ex-Rams G/T Rodger Saffold has failed his physical with the Raiders, voiding his five-year, $42.5 million contract.

He's once again a free agent. It's to the point where we just feel bad for GM Reggie McKenzie, who is simply out of his depth. Valuing Saffold more, the Raiders let perfectly fine in-house option Jared Veldheer walk. Now they have neither, and a titanic hole on Terrelle Pryor/Matt McGloin/Unsigned Free Agent's blindside. As for Saffold, it wasn't exactly a secret that his health was a question mark. He's missed 17 games over the past three seasons. More versatile than effective, he'll go back to shopping his wares as a guard who can play tackle. It's quite possible he'll end up back with the Rams on a bargain deal. The Raiders are going to be historically bad (again) in 2014.

Reggie McKenzie is shit. It's official. I loved Jared Veldheer and the Raiders tried to fuckin sign a lesser player for more money.

[Maynard]

UPDATE: Following the failed physical, Saffold will reportedly return to the St. Louis Rams on a 5-year deal.

[Guest]

Should have franchised Veldheer at the start. Also interesting that the Rams immediately signed him to a five year deal, must have been something bogus with the physical so the Raiders could get out of it.

[Hasselbeck]

60 mil in cap space and only Darren McFadden and Austin Howard to show for it

[Aso]

Yeah he let Rashad Jennings go and resigned injury prone McFadden. This guy doesn't have two fucks a clue what he's doing.

[Aso]

NFL.com's Mike Silver reports it was Raiders owner Mark Davis who nixed the Rodger Saffold deal.

Davis apparently had concerns about the shoulder Saffold injured last preseason. Per Silver, Saffold "could have had surgery and been ready for training camp," but Davis wouldn't have it. It's a troubling development for many reasons. It shows a lack of faith in GM Reggie McKenzie, and is an indication that, despite his protestations to the contrary, Davis has some of his father's management style to him. Davis has left egg on his GM's face, and his offensive line without a left tackle. It's a sad state of affairs in Oakland.

Can't bear this anymore.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I didn't want Saffold back. Can't stay healthy.

[Argath]

[Guest]

Can't bear this anymore.

So the team essentially got cold feet on the deal. Dumb decision to not franchise the Veldheer, even worse to pass on Saffold after all of that anyway. Just accept the bad deal and move on.

[SuperKevin]

60 mil in cap space and only Darren McFadden and Austin Howard to show for it

Justin Tuck too

[Aso]

So the team essentially got cold feet on the deal. Dumb decision to not franchise the Veldheer, even worse to pass on Saffold after all of that anyway. Just accept the bad deal and move on.

It's the incompetence from head to toe. They let Veldheer and Houston walk, two of the Raiders best players. Houston I'd be fine with but not Veldheer. You're right they should've franchise tagged him and then with Saffold - cold feet, whatever, the Raiders are now without a LT moving forward after having a very good young one. At an extremely important position in todays NFL I might add especially when the Broncos have Ware and Von Miller and the Chiefs have Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

Second, letting Rashad Jennings walk and resigning McFadden was a mistake. McFadden has had 2 seasons where he actually looked like what a first round back should look like. Even in this short golden era for McFadden he played in only 20 of a possibly 32 games in 2010-2011. McFadden has NEVER stayed healthy for a full 16 games and Hue Jackson ain't here anymore to get that production out of him. He's average 3.3 YPC in each of the last two seasons. Jennings was reliable and is now the Giants starter and to me it's just one more hole the Raiders have.

Raiders come into the off-season with 60 mllion in cap room and sign an over the hilll DE in Justin Tuck who's stock is as low as it's been in 7 years and the Raiders still paid a 5.5M annual salary for, and a quality RT. This team has more holes than swiss cheese.

Even going back to last year: Raiders sign Matt Flynn in the off-season and he crashes and burns hard again in his regular season game against the Redskins and gets cut right afterwards. Raiders draft Tyler Wilson in the 3rd round and then gets cut before the season even begins.

It's clear GM Reggie McKenzie is in over his head and he doesn't know what he's doing. Add in that little bit about Mark Davis intervening to stop the signing of Saffold, a player McKenzie clearly had confidence in and things look like a mess.

[SuperKevin]

Raiders signed LaMarr Woodley too

[Aso]

Raiders signed LaMarr Woodley too

He's over the hill as well but I can moreso get behind.

[Guest]

With the most salary cap room of any team heading into free agency, we've talked more about who the Raiders have let walk (Jared Veldheer, Lamarr Houston) than who they've signed. But the team has spent some time inking free agents like Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley, and on Friday, Oakland announced it added former Texans defensive end Antonio Smith.


According to numerous reports, it's a two-year deal worth $9 million.

Smith ranks No. 42 on the CBSSports.com list, and he's coming off a five-sack season for the Texans in which he ranked No. 17 on the Pro Football Focus list of 3-4 defensive ends.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-...-antonio-smith

Solid under the radar signing. He isn't replacing Houston for the long term, but Smith is versatile and will apply pressure to the QB. He's also ridiculously durable, missing one game since 2006.