Oakland Raiders: Al Davis Playing It Smart

Without a CBA being reached the NFL will have an uncapped year.  This means every team will have no limit on how much money they spend on their roster.  A lot of people believed that Al Davis would break the bank and sign every player available hoping to build a contender in one offseason.

Well things are changing in Oakland and Al Davis is doing the right thing by not bringing in a bunch of aging veterans for way too much money.  He went on a spending spree a couple years ago but didn't get the results he was looking for.  He obviously has learned from his recent free agent "splash" mistakes.

The first thing he did this offseason was get rid of a lot of the "dead weight" on the roster.  We all know who.  Javon Walker was the biggest rip off.  Glad he's gone.  Al Davis seems to have finally realized that he can't just "reload" during the offseason and turn things around.  He will build through the draft and maybe pull off another trade and acquire one of the top prospects in this years draft.

Check out a few of these deals.  Had Al Davis made some of these moves he would have been once again attacked by ESPN and all the anti-Raiders sports reporters.

Julius Peppers gets a $91 million dollar deal with $42 guaranteed from the Chicago Bears.  He can still be a force but his best years are behind him.  He's been known for shutting it down from time to time.  I'm not convinced that he'll go 100% every down now that he's got that $40 plus guaranteed.

Antonio Bryant must have the greatest agent of all time.  (maybe he has the same as Javon Walker).  He was able to get the Bengals to agree to a $28 million dollar deal over four years.  That's basically the same deal that Anquan Boldin got from the Ravens.  Cincinnati could probably get T.O. for less than that.

Larry Johnson, who had a visit scheduled with the Raiders, somehow got the Redskins to agree to $12 million for three years.  I would have lost my mind if he signed that deal with the Raiders.

TE Ben Watson got the same $12 million dollar deal from the Browns.  What the?

Kyle Vanden Bosch was able to get $26 million over four years from the Detroit Lions.  He has some very productive seasons under his belt but those days are long gone.  He wasn't the same last season without Albert Haynesworth next to him.  He only had three sacks in 15 games last year.

You see what I am saying Raider Nation?  I know that it has been quiet this offseason but the pieces to the puzzle that we need are in the NFL Draft.  If Al Davis went on a spending spree, especially on some of these guys, the media would be saying, "here we go again."  Al is doing the right thing by keeping his checkbook closed and not diving blindly into the free agent market.