Justin Tuck Stumping to Bring Ndamukong Suh to Oakland
By Kevin Saito
The Oakland Raiders are going into free agency this offseason with a very big chunk of change to spend. By most estimates, the Raiders will have a little more $50 million dollars in available cap space. Defensive end Justin Tuck knows just how he thinks Oakland should use some of that cash, and made his pitch – likely with the hope that his team’s general manager and new head coach were listening.
Tuck, like a lot of football players, is making the rounds on the media circuit during the Super Bowl festivities. When he was asked a question about Ndamukong Suh, Tuck seized on the opportunity to recruit one of the game’s most dominating forces.
"“Can I use this as a pulpit to get him to Oakland right now? He seems to be an Oakland Raider… He’s Raider-ish. That’s one of the reasons why I know Raider Nation would applaud that move, beyond the fact he’s an awesome football player. But he kind of fits the mold of the toughness and the ferocious play that build the Oakland Raiders.”"
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Adding Suh to a defense that includes the likes of Tuck, Khalil Mack, Sio Moore, and Justin Ellis would give Oakland’s defense some real teeth. His presence, and the fact that he’s one of the league’s most disruptive forces, would almost necessitate that opposing offenses double team him, which would free up the rest of the defense to actually apply pressure to the quarterback.
A pass rush is something that Oakland has lacked for quite some time, but adding a player of Suh’s stature to the developing talent on the roster might just be the cure for that.
There is of course, a deep schism within the rank and file of Raiders fans. Some believe that GM Reggie McKenzie should pull out all the stops in pursuit of Suh. Others believe that McKenzie should opt to spent the available money on a player like Julius Thomas, Demarco Murray, or any of the other offensive stars set to hit the open market.
“Some of the tactics you can probably do without, but he’s a hell of a football player. I would love to have the opportunity to line up beside him — and let him take all the double-teams I normally take.”
But that’s the beautiful thing here Raiders fans, you all may be able to have your cake and eat it too.
If there is one thing that McKenzie has done well since coming to Oakland’s front office, it’s to structure free agent contracts in a way that gives the team maximum flexibility. John Elway and the Denver Broncos squeezed, smooshed, and finagled their way into one of the best free agent classes in the NFL last season, adding impact players like Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, T.J. Ward, and Emmanuel Sanders – all with far less money to spend than McKenzie has now.
If the Broncos can pull off a coup like that, there is no reason to believe that Oakland’s front office can’t pony up the cash to land Suh AND Thomas, as well as some nice complementary pieces to the roster. The challenge here though – and the thing that will potentially drive Raiders fans stark, raving, mad – is McKenzie’s notoriously frugal ways.
McKenzie cut his front office teeth in Green Bay – a team not exactly known for opening up the checkbook on a whim – and he’s brought those lessons in frugality along with him to Oakland. And while being fiscally prudent and frugal are not inherently bad things, McKenzie’s job may very well rest on the team’s performance in 2015. Another three or four win season, and he might find himself looking for gainful employment elsewhere.
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While most Raiders fans can agree with his philosophy of building through the draft, to win now – and he really does need to win now – McKenzie must be willing to spend some of that cap room on marquee players who will have an immediate impact.
Players like Suh. And Thomas.
Justin Tuck may have been trying to light a fire under the men controlling the purse strings in Oakland, McKenzie and owner Mark Davis. We can only imagine that a defensive minded coach like Jack Del Rio is salivating at the prospect of adding a player like Suh to his young, emerging stars on that side of the ball.
Given the fact that Del Rio is going to have a major role in determining the shape of the Raiders’ final roster in 2015 – nearly unprecedented for an Oakland coach – it seems logical, if not likely, that the Raiders are going to be players in the Suh sweepstakes.
And if they needed any sort of extra push in that direction, apparently all they need to do is talk to Tuck.