Oakland Raiders: Sometimes, the best move is making no move at all

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The Oakland Raiders are moving very slowly and methodically this offseason, to the chagrin of many fans – but sometimes, the best move is no move at all.

TheOakland Raiders, with the free agency window set to officially open tomorrow, have been quieter than the proverbial church mouse. With the legal tampering period in full swing, teams are firing bundles of cash at players out of a JUGS machine.

Some of the Oakland faithful are watching the free agency feeding frenzy clutching their pearls and with gritted teeth, as impact player after impact player comes off the board, leaving the Raiders with fewer options to retool a roster in desperate need of it.

But, as we watch teams throwing money likeAdam Jonesat a strip club, it’s important to remember that sometimes, the best move is to not make a move at all.

Of course, given the fact that the Raiders don’t have a ton of space under the cap helps to employ that philosophy, but it also means that they’re going to be more methodical and hopefully, more judicious in where they spend those dollars.

Take for example, the case ofTrumaine Johnson, the consensus best cornerback on the free agent market. He’s been linked with the Raiders since about four seconds after the Rams traded forMarcus Peters. And the chorus of Johnson to the Raiders only grew louder when the Rams acquiredAqib TalibandSam Shields.

When the story broke that Seahawks castoffRichard Shermanhad asked GMReggie McKenzieabout playing in Oakland and was told therewasn’t enough cap space for him, some instantly assumed it was because the Raiders were holding on to the money to make a run at Johnson.

And maybe that was the plan. Possibly.

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But, with Sherman then signing a deal that could net him up to $13 million a year andMalcolm Butleragreeing to a deal with Tennessee that willpay him about $12 million a year, it seemed like the asking price for the twice-franchise-tagged Johnson was quickly getting way too rich.

And sure enough, we now get word that Johnson has agreed to a deal with the New York Jets that’s reportedly going topay him $15 million a season.

Suffice it to say, that kind of a deal for Johnson would have decimated whatever cap room the Raiders had left. Not to mention the fact that it’s a pretty outrageous sum for a guy far less accomplished than both Butler and Sherman.

But – the market decides what the player is worth. And it decided Johnson was worth $15 million a year.

Now, McKenzie very well could have massaged things to make Johnson’s salary fit. Somehow. Someway. If the Raiders were that all in on Johnson, they would have made it work.

However, it also very likely would have hamstrung this team financially. Not just this year, but potentially for future seasons as well. Throwing that kind of money at Johnson is straight out of the late-stage Al Davis playbook – and we all saw how badly that worked out, didn’t we?

Handing out bloated contracts isn’t typically McKenzie’s MO. Even the spending spree last offseason that netted the RaidersJared Cook,Cordarrelle Patterson, andMarshawn Lynch– though totally superfluous – was pretty fiscally responsible.

Their deals were reasonable enough – even if their production didn’t quite justify the salary in the first place.

Let’s also not forget that McKenzie’s track record when signing high profile cornerbacks to lucrative deals is about as good as his track record when signing free agent quarterbacks – did somebody sayMatt FlynnandMatt Schaub?

Suffice it to say, McKenzie’s return on investment in free agent cornerbacks over his tenure hasn’t been exceptionally stellar.Tarell Brown,Carlos Rogers,David Amerson,Sean Smith… Need we go on?

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With Jon Gruden back at the helm of this team, he’s going to be looking for a specific kind of player. He’s not going to necessarily be looking for the big, splashy names. He’s going to be looking for guys with grit. Guys that are absolutely blue collar and have a work ethic bordering on the insane.

Basically, he’s going to be looking for guys that are a lot like him. Grinders. You can argue that the two players the Raidershaveagreed to terms with,Griff WhalenandDerek Carrier, fit that mold. They’re not flashy, they aren’t high profile names, and they likely won’t ever be the best at their positions.

But, they keep their heads down and work. They’re role players who do their jobs and know how to stay in their lanes. And you need guys like that on a team.

It’s not flashy. It’s rarely ever pretty. And it has about as much splash as a cotton ball being dropped into the toilet. But, you absolutely have to have those role players.

As a fan, it’s hard to watch guys with talent come off the board knowing your team could have used them. Oakland has a dire need at corner, and we’ve now seen Sherman, Butler, and Johnson go by the boards – making fans clutch their pearls tighter and grit their teeth harder.

Next: A Few Possible FA Targets For The Frugal-Minded

Thus far in the free agency cycle, the Raiders aren’t getting the guys fanswant. But, perhaps, they will land the players the teamneeds.Players who, while not household names, will do the dirty work that needs to be done. Guys who fit and can perform at a high level within Gruden’s structure.

Grinders.

We saw it in Gruden’s first tenure with the team and we’re likely going to see more of that now. And let’s face it, just because somebody’s willing to throw an obscene amount of money at a guy, it doesn’t guarantee success. Or even competence – please see Amerson and Smith.

They may not be making a lot of splashy moves, but it’s not always the splashy moves that win you championships. It’s building a team of guys who buy in and perform at a high level within a given structure.

So, while it might be frustrating to some to watch the elite players come off the board, sometimes, restraint pays off. It’s not always about making the splashy move, it’s about making therightmove.

And rather than mortgage the future for a splash signing now, Gruden and McKenzie are moving slowly and methodically — and will hopefully make therightmoves.

As difficult as it is to watch, the best move is sometimes, making no move at all.

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