Oakland Raiders: Loyalty is admirable, but you can’t rewire old and slow

Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther is hoping to find a fountain of youth rather than hit a dry well in the secondary.

There have been plenty of head-scratching, eyebrow-raising moves Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has made this offseason, but one really stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Back in March, it was announced that Reggie Nelson was being brought back to the Silver and Black on a one-year deal in a move as surprising and ghastly, as it was incomprehensible. After all, didn’t we just suffer through two years of seeing Nelson chasing after receivers who’d blown by him, waving his arms and cursing at them like the man impotently shaking his fist at the sky when it rains?

Surely, Gruden had seen tape of Nelson and knew he looked more the part of a turnstile and/or matador than an NFL-capable safety, right?

With free agent safeties like Tre Boston, Eric Reid, and Kenny Vaccaro still out there, looking for gainful employment, surely Gruden and the Raiders could have done better. Right? Right??

Give that Gruden’s new defensive coordinator is Paul Guenther – who coached not just Nelson, but plenty of other guys the Raiders have brought in this offseason – it probably shouldn’t have been all that surprising. A coach likes to have guys around who knows his system, and how to run it.

And to be perfectly fair, in Guenther’s system, Nelson thrived and was a Pro Bowl player, leading the league in interceptions in 2015 with eight.

It was that showing that prompted Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie to pony up the two-year, $8.5 million dollar deal he gave the veteran safety back in 2016.

And although the stats for that year (Nelson recorded five picks in 2016) might mislead you into thinking that McKenzie got a solid return on investment, this is one of those cases where the stats lie. Or at least, they don’t tell you the full story.

Not a single one of Nelson’s interceptions in 2016 was of any consequence. Not a one of his interceptions that year turned the tide of one game. Not a one of them helped the Raiders hold on to a victory – or stave off a defeat. All five of his interceptions basically came in garbage time.

They all also happened to be a case of Nelson being in the right place at the right time, rather than Nelson making a solid play on a ball.

Despite all that though, for the good or for the ill, Nelson is back in Silver and Black for another season. And, according to Guenther, it’s not just going to be so he can mentor the other players on his defensive system.

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Guenther actually believes he can get Nelson back to performing at the Pro Bowl-caliber level he played at under him in Cincinnati.

So, if your hope was to see Nelson teach the system to the younger guys, but not make it to the final 53-man roster – as many of us had hoped – it sounds like we’re going to be very disappointed.

"“We got Reggie in Cincinnati out of Jacksonville. He was a first-round pick and we traded a seventh-rounder for him. We went into his body, pulled the wires out and rewired him and he played at a high level for us. So, I am expecting nothing different here.Reggie is the kind of guy if you tell him what to do and how to do it, he is going to do it exactly how you want him to do it. If there is any gray area in there, then maybe he is not going to be as effective.”"

Guenther’s loyalty to guys who performed well for him is admirable. It’s also fairly rare in this day and age. But, Nelson’s best years are far behind him. He performed well for Guenther, sure, but that was also years ago. And he very clearly isn’t the same player he was back then.

Guenther said he believes that Nelson struggled because he was “used improperly.” That’s not entirely untrue. Most of the defense was “used improperly” under former DC Ken Norton Jr. As a result, Oakland’s defense was a dumpster fire over his entire tenure.

But, the problem is that Nelson, now 34-years old – 35 in September – hasn’t gotten better with time. He’s not like Charles Woodson, who continued playing very well and at a very high level until the day he retired. Nelson is far more liability than asset whenever he steps on the field.

Suffice it to say, Nelson has not aged like a fine wine. He’s aged more like an already stinky cheese – he’s only stinking the place up even more.

Perhaps Guenther’s plan of limiting the number of plays he’s on the field will help. Maybe. Certainly, Nelson being on the field for fewer snaps can only help the team – if he’s on the sideline, he’s not as liable to get torched.

The fact that he’ll be on the field at all though, is a problem.

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Guenther can change his responsibilities and the number of reps he gets. That’s fine. He can even kind of mentally reboot him from how he was used in Norton’s system. That’s fine too.

And while it’s pretty much guaranteed that he is still faster than most of us slugs out here, over the past couple of seasons, Nelson has proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he’s physically incapable of keeping up with the Tyreek Hill‘s and Brandin Cooks‘ of the world.

Guenther might be able to rewire him from a mental standpoint. But, he can’t rewire old and slow. And unfortunately for Nelson – and this Raiders defense as a whole – that’s exactly what he’s become.