When the announcement was made on Friday that the Raiders will be releasing Richie Incognito, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur reported that the “expection” was that the 37 year-old will re-sign with the Raiders for less money.
That would be the ideal scenario for the Raiders because they could use the salary cap room. Prior to the news on Incognito, it was reported that the Raiders plan to release their other starting guard, Gabe Jackson. So Incognito’s return becomes even more important with both starting guards apparently headed to free agency.
Maybe they have a plan in place with Incognito (that’s the way it sounds), but it’s also a possibility that the Raiders could have underestimated his free agent market. Over the last two years, Incognito has been the Raiders top-graded offensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus analytics. Yes, even grading higher than Rodney Hudson – although it’s worth noting that Incognito hasn’t been nearly as durable as Hudson.
Now it seems that at least one former teammate is lobbying for Incognito’s return to the Bills and it’s fair to wonder if more teams might be interested in signing one of the better guards in the league.
By cutting Incognito, the Raiders will save just under $5.5 million against the salary cap. If they do bring him back, it will be interesting to see how much money they end up saving.
It’s also possible that Jon Gruden and his merry men have confidence in OL Coach Tom Cable to rebuild the offensive line with a lower-profile player than Incognito.
Maybe Denzelle Good will be a player to keep an eye on?
twitter: @raidersbeat
They should definitely bring him back for another year that’s ridiculous to even think that guard of his quality for $5000000 is not a good value. You can’t get a guard as good as Richie Incognito for $5000000 a year in the NFL.
Incognito is 37, injured and out 14 games last season. If some team wants him bad enough to pay I say good for Richie.
Surely you jest, the Raiders were the only team interested in him a couple of years ago,they then gave him a 2 year deal at 36 in which he barely played he will now be headed to 38 and due to his history probably 2/3 of teams won’t even look at him. and stop calling me Shirley hahaha
I think we over rated mayok
Nobody wants a 38 year old guard with mental health problems coming off an Achilles injury, even if he played pretty well at 36. It’s purely business.
I see a heavily incentivised contract coming from the Raiders. Health is a concern, if he stays healthy, pay the man…
As a long time Raider fan, I am tired of waiting for us to be really good like we used to be. Grudon and Mayock have been a real disappointment. The draft picks aren’t working out for the most part and chucky has a tendency to let us get out coached in the second half of the games.