Raiders sign RB Kenyan Drake (2 years, up to $14.5, $11M gtd)

[reddevil]

1 minute ago, Mr Raider said:

People are freaking out like we just paid him among the elite backs in the NFL. His base salary is on par with Giovanni Benard, David Johnson, Tarik Cohen, Jamaal, Kareem Hunt, Williams, and James White and Tevin Coleman before they hit the market. He's being paid like one of the best #2 running backs in the league. Which is exactly what he is. 

People just like to kill everything. I guess we should have continued to run Jacobs into the ground and let his productivity suffer for it. We needed to get better and more consistent running the ball. You do that with improved running back depth and moving on from injury prone, super highly paid offensive lineman that struggle to create running lanes. 

I agree. We’re hardly talking about crazy money. Seems like this is the new tactic - spread the money around a bit more on good role players, rather than spend big on one or two and then go cheap on role players. It’s a different approach.

[drfrey13]

5 minutes ago, Mr Raider said:

People are freaking out like we just paid him among the elite backs in the NFL. His base salary is on par with Giovanni Benard, David Johnson, Tarik Cohen, Jamaal, Kareem Hunt, Williams, and James White and Tevin Coleman before they hit the market. He's being paid like one of the best #2 running backs in the league. Which is exactly what he is. 

People just like to kill everything. I guess we should have continued to run Jacobs into the ground and let his productivity suffer for it. We needed to get better and more consistent running the ball. You do that with improved running back depth and moving on from injury prone, super highly paid offensive lineman that struggle to create running lanes. 

I have questioned a lot of the moves so far but I agree with this one.  Gruden has a run heavy offense that has struggled to to get in the end zone.  Also you are correct that we are running Jacobs into the ground.  If we ever get to the playoffs and want to be successful we will have to save Jacobs during the regular season.  I think these two will work well together and the cost is not outrageous for Drake.

[big_palooka]

37 minutes ago, Mr Raider said:

People are freaking out like we just paid him among the elite backs in the NFL. His base salary is on par with Giovanni Benard, David Johnson, Tarik Cohen, Jamaal, Kareem Hunt, Williams, and James White and Tevin Coleman before they hit the market. He's being paid like one of the best #2 running backs in the league. Which is exactly what he is. 

People just like to kill everything. I guess we should have continued to run Jacobs into the ground and let his productivity suffer for it. We needed to get better and more consistent running the ball. You do that with improved running back depth and moving on from injury prone, super highly paid offensive lineman that struggle to create running lanes. 

It looks ugly because the defense is so far away from being good. That money could buy you a high end starter on defense. That said, we have to see how the defense comes together as we progress.

 

[MrOaktown_56]

1 minute ago, big_palooka said:

It looks ugly because the defense is so far away from being good. That money could buy you a high end starter on defense. That said, we have to see how the defense comes together as we progress.

 

It really comes down to how Ngakoue and Jefferson/Ferrell/Hurst/Irving interior duo (whichever two it'll be) can rush the passer. Even if everything else from last year was the same, if we rushed the passer better everything would look better.

I'll be upset if we don't spend on a CB and safety at the very least though.

[raidr4life]

2 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

If it's 2 years 11 million, which it looks like, that's 5.5 mil a year. That's not that bad.

My real concern is if this move keeps us from signing OL/CB/S. Mariota, Richard, and Nassib can save us some $$$. Probably around 17-18 mil. Put that toward some goddamn needs cmon. 

Man yall got to be patient

[reddevil]

12 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

It looks ugly because the defense is so far away from being good. That money could buy you a high end starter on defense. That said, we have to see how the defense comes together as we progress.

 

While you’re right, I don’t see many defensive FAs that would cost the 7-8 mill that signing Drake prevents you from getting that you couldn’t get for less. Looks to me like there are a few options for what we are looking for - a vet presence at S and at CB - that won’t break the bank. So why not spend a bit more on improving the offense - which this signing does IMO for a lot of reasons. 

You are always saying that you can’t build a team through FA and I don’t see that many difference makers on D. There are role players and if cut Richard and Mariota like we are almost certain to do, we can bring in a couple of mid level guys, which is all you can really get at this stage of FA anyway

[Mr Raider]

32 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

It looks ugly because the defense is so far away from being good. That money could buy you a high end starter on defense. That said, we have to see how the defense comes together as we progress.

 

I mean I agree with that, but only if the end result is the total neglect of the defensive side. Which hasn't been the case to this point. We have focused on the DL including signing a guy that could be argued as the best edge available. 

If we release Richard and use that money it's a negligible difference and not something that should be viewed so negatively. 

I get what you're saying. But I think a second back is extremely important to keeping Jacobs productive and the offense as good as it should be. The biggest impact on defense will likely come via the draft. This would be a totally different discussion if this was the only move we made or if we paid some RB 12 million a year or something. Paying 5.5 for a high end #2 back in our offense could be a live safer, especially with Jacobs having some issues being banged up. We can still make moves to improve the defense. I don't look at it as an either or thing. Just have to be smart the rest of the way and look for the right value. 

[reddevil]

9 minutes ago, Mr Raider said:

I mean I agree with that, but only if the end result is the total neglect of the defensive side. Which hasn't been the case to this point. We have focused on the DL including signing a guy that could be argued as the best edge available. 

If we release Richard and use that money it's a negligible difference and not something that should be viewed so negatively. 

I get what you're saying. But I think a second back is extremely important to keeping Jacobs productive and the offense as good as it should be. The biggest impact on defense will likely come via the draft. This would be a totally different discussion if this was the only move we made or if we paid some RB 12 million a year or something. Paying 5.5 for a high end #2 back in our offense could be a live safer, especially with Jacobs having some issues being banged up. We can still make moves to improve the defense. I don't look at it as an either or thing. Just have to be smart the rest of the way and look for the right value. 

Spot on. I don’t think this move disqualifies is from other potential moves and it should improve us in a number of ways - improved RB lay when Jacobs is out, reducing the load on Jacobs, passing game out of backfield and crucially getting into the end zone 

[jimkelly02]

I’ve been advocating HARD for a Good RB2 since last year.  You gotta keep jacobs fresh.  Don’t run him into the ground like so many RBs before.  I didn’t think we’d get someone as good as Drake.  I love the combo of Jacobs and Drake... so versatile.  Rebuild the OL and pound the ball and use the RBs heavy in the passing game.  They’ve both for the Bama connection so they prolly hit it off instantly.  
 

It’s an odd move but awesome.

[Humble_Beast]

1 minute ago, jimkelly02 said:

I’ve been advocating HARD for a Good RB2 since last year.  You gotta keep jacobs fresh.  Don’t run him into the ground like so many RBs before.  I didn’t think we’d get someone as good as Drake.  I love the combo of Jacobs and Drake... so versatile.  Rebuild the OL and pound the ball and use the RBs heavy in the passing game.  They’ve both for the Bama connection so they prolly hit it off instantly.  
 

It’s an odd move but awesome.

drafting a RT and RG sounding appealing on Day 2. 

[jimkelly02]

7 minutes ago, Humble_Beast said:

drafting a RT and RG sounding appealing on Day 2. 

Build that OL!!! I want to pound the ball with some bad MFers like Incognito.

[Roninho]

1 hour ago, big_palooka said:

It looks ugly because the defense is so far away from being good. That money could buy you a high end starter on defense. That said, we have to see how the defense comes together as we progress.

 

Which high end starter on defense we could have gotten for 5.5 mio?

[ragingraider]

RT & S are the teams biggest needs now. We could potentially get a very good RT prospect at #17 and still get a nice S prospect in the second round. This would be my preference. There are 4 or 5 excellent young RT prospects we can certainly get one of these.

[Geezy]

22 minutes ago, ragingraider said:

RT & S are the teams biggest needs now. We could potentially get a very good RT prospect at #17 and still get a nice S prospect in the second round. This would be my preference. There are 4 or 5 excellent young RT prospects we can certainly get one of these.

should be good value at both spots OT at #17 and FS AT #48, I just hope we address those positions with a vet so we dotn depend on a rookie and it isnt so obvious what were trying to do come draft weekend. 

[oakdb36]

35 minutes ago, Roninho said:

Which high end starter on defense we could have gotten for 5.5 mio?

It's not even 5.5 since Richard is probably gone. And we don't even know what's the cap hit for Drake.