Oakland Raiders: A Few Names To Keep, A Few To Dump Ahead Of 2018

Dump: Reggie Nelson

If there is even a thought in Reggie McKenzie‘s mind to re-signing Nelson, even to a team friendly deal, somebody should stage an intervention. An intervention that includes having his keys to the team facility taken away, as well as a long stay in a well-padded room in quiet, tranquil surroundings.

Signing him at the time he did was – understandable. Sort of. Mostly. Nelson, despite being 32 years old, was coming off a season in which he had eight picks and a couple of fumble recoveries. He also added 72 tackles (50 solo) to his stat line.

It was a pretty good season for Nelson. And given the void at safety the Raiders had at the time, you can’t fault McKenzie too hard for signing him.

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However, that first season should have been enough for McKenzie to pull the plug on Nelson and send him packing.

Although he did notch five interceptions that first year, most of them seemed like they were more a product of chance than Nelson actually making a play on the ball.

All too often, over these past two seasons with Nelson roaming around the defensive backfield, we’ve seen opposing receivers galloping free and uncontested – while Nelson is burned harder than California during fire season.

Nelson takes bad angles to the ball, is frequently out of position, and doesn’t have the speed to compensate for his shortcomings. And as the last line of Oakland’s defense, that is well beyond unacceptable.

As bad as the cornerback play has been, Nelson’s play at safety has been even worse and is a huge contributing factor to what has been one of the most porous secondaries in all of football the last couple of years.

Without Nelson, the Raiders will have $6 million more to work with next season – money better spent investing on a new team parking attendant than trying to re-sign him.