Oakland Raiders: Best free agent moves of the Reggie McKenzie era

Michael Crabtree (2015)

When McKenzie brought in San Francisco 49ers castoff Michael Crabtree ahead of the 2015 season, it raised eyebrows in a lot of corners. Given Crabtree’s reputation as a diva and a locker room cancer, many expressed considerable skepticism about his presence on the roster.

However, in his three seasons in Silver and Black, Crabtree has been pretty exceptional. In three seasons with the Raiders, Crabtree has caught 232 passes for 2,543 yards, and 25 touchdowns. He’s had no fewer than eight touchdowns in any one season – not even last year, which was an offensive dumpster fire.

Crabtree’s annual salary of $8.5 million dollars doesn’t even rank inside the league’s top-twenty. Which is obviously, tremendous value for his production. When McKenzie signed him, he got maximum bang for the buck.

With Oakland’s offensive regression in 2017, rumors and whispers about Crabtree’s attitude began to surface. Combined with a few on-the-field incidents with Denver’s Aqib Talib, reports began to swirl that Crabtree’s time with the Raiders was done.

Given that the team can part ways with him and incur no dead cap money, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that he was done in Oakland.

With Gruden coming in though, that may not be the case. They could ultimately decide to cut him, but there’s an even chance now that they’re going to keep him.

He’s a better value than many other receivers out there, has tremendous chemistry with Carr, and is incredibly productive on the field. If he lashed out in the locker room last season, it’s entirely possible that it was the frustration of a team that was profoundly underachieving. We just don’t know.

What we do know though, is that Crabtree has been tremendous on the field for the Raiders and is one of McKenzie’s savviest free agency pick-ups to date.