Oakland Raiders: Re-Signing Donald Penn A Top Priority – Or Is It?

The Oakland Raiders are reportedly making re-signing tackle Donald Penn a top priority this offseason, but at least one writer doesn’t believe the hype.

More from Las Vegas Raiders News

• Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
• Raiders: Bryan Edwards out, Henry Ruggs doubtful for Sunday
• Raiders: Damon Arnette re-injures thumb, could be headed to IR
• Raiders fall short in letdown Week 3 loss to the New England Patriots
• Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 at New England Patriots

Apparently, Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis is a very crafty, very powerful man. He’s apparently like Gandalf — but with a really bad hair cut. Not only can Davis bend all of the other league owners to his will and produce a new billion dollar stadium in LA, but he can also – oh, wait. Scratch that part.

While, maybe he doesn’t have the juice to pull a new stadium out of his hat, he can apparently squeeze the media and force them to do his bidding. Or something like that.

In the most recent example we have of his diabolical powers, he has seemingly cast a spell over a sportswriter and magically coerced him into putting out a Tweet stating that the Raiders’ top priority this offseason is re-signing left tackle Donald Penn. Nefarious, isn’t it?

It’s a good thing for us though that we have folks like Silver & Black Pride’s Levi Damien to watch over us, to help us see through the wicked fog Davis and his minions are spewing from the bowels of the O.Co Coliseum, and cut through to the true truth of things.

Why, if not for Damien standing sentinel on the walls above us, informing us, and giving us the Word, we might actually fall victim to having an original thought or two.

In a column that appeared on S&B Pride today, Damien expressed his reservations about the following Tweet put out by National Football Post columnist Aaron Wilson:

Damien’s skepticism starts with the keen observation that Wilson’s Tweet doesn’t cite sources – possibly forgetting the fact that a Tweet can only be 140 characters and probably isn’t the best forum for penning an entire article.

He goes on to say that Wilson’s musings read more as “an assumption based on the Raiders’ ‘ton of salary cap room.’” Damien does admit though – seemingly grudgingly – that Wilson could have been responding to something he’d actually been told by somebody in a position to know such things.

More from Golden Gate Sports

• Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
• 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
• Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
• 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
• 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve

But the crux of Damien’s skepticism about Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie making an aggressive push to re-sign the big left tackle – and making it a “top priority” – seems to be rooted in the idea that McKenzie can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, that he can’t sign other players while still making Penn a “top priority” for this club moving forward.

Damien cites the extension of Michael Crabtree and the signing of punter Marquette King to a long term deal as proof that McKenzie doesn’t see Penn as a “top priority” for the team. See? McKenzie clearly can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

Now granted, the fact that McKenzie and Penn reportedly hadn’t spoken since the season ended wasn’t a very good look. No question about that. The fact that Penn was upset enough to strip all mention of the Raiders from his social media accounts was an even worse look.

But couldn’t it possibly be that McKenzie was simply trying to get all of his ducks in a row – including the final figures on how much money he was going to have at his disposal this offseason – before making his pitch to Penn?

Related Story: FOXSports Doesn't Care About The Integrity of the Game

Let’s also make note of the fact that once the season ended, the organization had to almost immediately turn its attention to preparing for the recently concluded Scouting Combine and getting their draft board together. That takes time and attention – and given the fact that Penn’s contract isn’t technically up for another week or so, perhaps McKenzie thought he had a little more time to get his house in order.

Let’s also not forget that a lot of the real nitty gritty business tends to begin to get done during and after the Combine. Penn and the Raiders were scheduled to meet in Indianapolis to discuss the path forward. And as the curtain fell on the prospects the Raiders are eyeballing, their attention has now turned to dealing with their in-house business – which includes Penn.

Just a few days ago at the Combine, Del Rio had this to say about getting Penn back into Silver and Black:

"“I saw his comments, and I don’t think anything he said was out of line. Everybody wants (a contract) to happen right now, to happen yesterday. These things sometimes take a little time. Both sides are working on it and hopefully we’ll get something done.That’s part of this time of year. There’s a time for play and a time for pay. This is the time for pay, and he’s trying to get that resolved. Once that’s all settled, we’ll come together as a team and we’ll go.”"

McKenzie and Del Rio have stated for the record, numerous times, their desire to keep Penn in Oakland. But as Del Rio noted, these things can take some time. And now that the business with King is done – though, the Raiders never seemed to worry about not being able to sign him – they can turn to Penn armed with all of the information they’ll need.

Next: Is Robert Nkemdiche Worth Rolling The Dice On?

Damien seems to believe that because Penn wasn’t dealt with first that clearly, McKenzie and Del Rio are lying about how big of a priority he is to this team. Except that he overlooks the fact that the exact opposite actually can be — and probably is — true.

Now that they’ve secured some of their bigger free agents in Crabtree and King and know how much of the cap they’ll be taking up, they are able to see what sort of numbers they can all work with as they turn their attention to their top priority – Donald Penn.