Oakland Raiders: Is Malik Jackson Worth The Big Payday He Seeks?

The Oakland Raiders are rumored to be interested in signing Malik Jackson away from the Denver Broncos – but is he worth twelve million a year?

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The Oakland Raiders are rising but have some holes to fill this offseason. And with the retirement of Justin Tuck and the uncertainty surrounding promising rookie Mario Edwards Jr. who suffered a serious neck injury late last season, a big, quick body on the edge is one of them. The Denver Broncos have a lot of bodies ready to hit the open market and not enough money to retain them all – like defensive standout Malik Jackson.

But will GM Reggie McKenzie be willing to shell out the twelve million per year he’s seeking? And more importantly, should he?

Jackson – Denver’s fifth round pick in 2012 – is coming off his best year as a pro. In his first season as a full time starter, Jackson had a highly productive season – to say the least. He racked up five and a half sacks, had 60 total quarterback pressures, had 46 tackles, and even chipped in with seven passes defensed.

He was an integral part of Denver’s hellacious pass rush and the league’s number one ranked defense – a defense that is arguably, one of the best all time. About to enter his fifth year in the league at 26 years old, Jackson is also about to enter his physical prime.

Taking all of that into account, the Denver Broncos – in an effort to retain one of their core pieces – have extended an offer of five years and around fifty million dollars to entice Jackson back to the fold. But the big defensive end is reportedly seeking somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve million per season – presumably with a lot of guaranteed money in the deal.

Right now, Jackson is holding all of the cards. He doesn’t seem interested in giving the Broncos a hometown discount to stay in Denver and given that he was an important piece of the Broncos’ defensive puzzle, he has the leverage to demand a big payday.

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Before McKenzie scratches out that check though, he needs to answer an important question – is Malik Jackson worth twelve million dollars a season?

Now, given the amount of cap space the Raiders have – as well as their needs – most would probably shout yes from the rooftops. They would argue that not only would signing Jackson improve Oakland’s pass rush, it would hurt the Broncos in the process by taking Jackson away from them.

Perhaps. But perhaps not.

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Jackson is big, strong, and athletic. There is no question about that. But how much of his performance on the field was him and how much of it can be attributed to having world class players all around him. Think about it. Jackson was the beneficiary of having players like Von Miller, Brandon Marshall, Danny Trevathan, Derek Wolfe, and DeMarcus Ware around him in Denver’s defensive front.

He also had a secondary with the likes of Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward, and Chris Harris behind him that would make any quarterback hesitate for that extra second before letting a ball fly – thus allowing the defensive front to get the dirty work done.

Denver’s defense was utterly hellacious. They were able to put heavy pressure on the quarterback, stifle the running game and defend the pass equally as well. There is absolutely a case to be made for the 2015 Broncos defense being hailed as one of the all time greats.

The question GM’s around the league and McKenzie in particular are now tasked with answering is whether or not the individual components of that defense are as good as the sum of those parts.

The Denver defense has had the same players on the roster for several years now. But it wasn’t until Wade Phillips came in to run it that the defense took that next step forward and became the beast that it is today.

Which begs the question – can the individual components of that defense be as successful and beastly as they were in Phillips’ system in another team’s system that doesn’t have the same schemes and talent? Or are they simply a product of that system?

We won’t know the answer to those questions until some of those individual components make their way to other teams. Denver isn’t going to be able to retain all of the parts of that defense and several big names like Jackson will be able to test the market.

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The Raiders have a ton of money to play with this offseason, but McKenzie can’t – and shouldn’t – go spending all willy-nilly. He has to consider the fact that he’s going to have to keep enough money in the coffers to sign foundation pieces like Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, and even Amari Cooper in the not too distant future.

Jackson is going to get paid. And he’s going to get paid a lot. But given the fact that we’ve seen – countless times – guys perform at a very high level in one team’s system only to struggle terribly in another team’s system, the question is, should McKenzie the Raiders be the ones to write that check?