Oakland Raiders Should Just Say No To Adrian Peterson, Jamaal Charles

With the Oakland Raiders apparently letting their workhorse back hit the open market, the team has a gaping hole in the backfield – one they should not fill with aging stars in decline.

Once upon a time – not all that long ago, actually – the Oakland Raiders were the last stop on the road to retirement for many a player. Between the latter 1990’s until – oh, about four or five years ago now – Al Davis routinely cut checks to players well past their prime who often had little left in the tank.

When GM Reggie McKenzie took control of the team, that all changed. Productivity and accountabilty were the themes as he gutted a roster filled to the brim with bloated contracts and vastly underachieving players.

And now, just a few years since his installation at the top of the food chain, McKenzie has built a team that’s on an upward trajectory. The roster is filled with actual players who work hard and have made the Raiders relevant and respected again.

Now is not the time to take a step backward and dip into the playbook of Al in his later years.

With word breaking that the Vikings have declined to pick up the option on Adrian Peterson and the Chiefs are expected to let Jamaal Charles walk, there are some out there connecting a lot of dots and reading a lot of tea leaves who anticipate this means the Raiders will be in play for one of them.

Let’s just say right here and right now – no. An emphatic no. No, thank you, if you prefer.

There was a time when either of them would have looked fantastic in Silver and Black. But that time has long since passed and McKenzie must do the smart thing and avoid even making eye contact with either of them.

When McKenzie and the Raiders made the decision to let Latavius Murray test the market, it created a hole in the backfield, there is no question. And it’s a hole that many of us do not feel Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington can fill on their own. Both are great at what they do and are fantastic change of pace backs that can keep a defense on its heels. But neither can shoulder the entire load.

Which is why some are excited to see Peterson and Charles walking around, free to sign with whoever they so desire. There was a time in their careers when they were the workhorses. When they could shoulder the load of a team’s rushing attack on their own.

But once again, those days are long past.

The Raiders need bodies on the field who can contribute. They don’t need players who are injured more often than they’re on the field, who aren’t able to contribute to the team’s success. Consider, over the last three seasons – 48 games – Peterson has played in just 20 of them. And Charles over that same span? 23.

Now granted, Peterson had a tremendous campain in 2015, posting 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns. But that was also two years and one major knee injury ago. How effective will he be in 2017? And more importantly, how long will he be able to stay on the field?

The same question goes for Charles, who hasn’t actually had a productive season since 2014 when he ran for 1,033 yards and nine touchdowns.

There is also the consideration of the price tag that would come with either one of them. McKenzie balked at the possibility of Murray looking to be paid somewhere in the $4-6 million range annually.

Peterson was set to make $18 million this year in Minnesota before they cut him, and it’s really difficult to see him coming down into the price range McKenzie would be comfortable paying a running back. Especially one who has the history injury he does.

Ditto that for Charles, who was making about $9 million a year on his deal before Kansas City showed him the door.

If the team balked at paying Murray $6 million a year, paying either Peterson or Charles significantly more than that would be foolish beyond measure.

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Which is why we shouldn’t expect to see the team make a push to sign either one of them. McKenzie isn’t a fool and knows that Peterson and Charles’ best days are behind them.

Oakland may have been a place where players could stop off and collect a final paycheck before riding off into the sunset, but those days are long past. And thankfully so.