Oakland Raiders Continue Salary Purge in Advance of Free Agency

The Oakland Raiders have been busily hacking away at years of bad contracts in an effort to free up salary-cap space in advance of the beginning of free agency at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. The purge continued Tuesday, as the team released linebacker Kamerion Wimbley and tight end Kevin Boss.

The 28-year-old Wimbley, who had 63 tackles, seven sacks and an interception a year ago for the Raiders, was due $11 million in base salary this season, and while $6.5 million of that figure is guaranteed, Oakland would have been on the hook for the remainder of Winbley's salary plus another $13 million on March 17.

Wimbley was reportedly unwilling to take a pay cut to free up cap space, and as the San Francisco Chronicle reports, that left the Raiders with little recourse other than to release the six-year veteran.

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There was one conversation with the team, and it was a week ago. The Raiders want to make room under the salary cap and would like Wimbley to take a pay cut. He is only open to restructuring.

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The Raiders didn't stop there, severing ties with veteran tight end Kevin Boss just one year after the 28-year-old signed a four year, $16 million contract with the team. Boss struggled with injuries in his first season in the Bay Area, posting his lowest receiving totals since his rookie year.

As Matt Williamson of ESPN pointed out, the somewhat surprising release of Boss is just the latest example of Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie showing that there is indeed a new sheriff in town.

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This move is another indication of major change in the leadership structure of the team. New general manager Reggie McKenzie is not showing much sentiment for the final free-agent class of former owner Al Davis, who died in October. Davis was closely involved with all of the Raiders’ free-agent moves last summer.

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The flurry of recent roster activity in Oakland may have erased the salary-cap deficit over $20 million  that the Raiders were facing, but although Oakland is likely now in compliance with the cap, these cuts have opened up new holes in the Raiders' roster, and those holes may not be easy to fill, given Oakland's scant cap space and limited draft picks.

That said, the mess that Reggie McKenzie inherited wasn't going to be fixed overnight, and this year for the Oakland Raiders may be somewhat frustrating for fans as the team tries to extricate itself from years of questionable spending and even more questionable draft picks.

Raider Nation can at least take solace, however, in the fact that McKenzie seems to have the Oakland Raiders on the right track for the first time in years, even if that track isn't the express lane.