There was a time when it seemed a little unlikely the Raiders would be able to re-sign Malcolm Koonce, but the star edge rusher surprised a few people when he signed a one-year, $12 million deal in March to stay in Las Vegas.
Koonce said last month that he was focused on the Raiders in free agency and never wanted to go anywhere else.
“The draft is stressful because you don’t know where you’re going. Free agency is like your mini-draft that nobody knows what’s going on but you, your agent, and maybe your family and stuff like that,” Koonce told Maxx Crosby on The Rush podcast.
“I knew I wanted to come back [to the Raiders]. I knew I wanted to play with you guys again. So my agent would be like ‘These people are interested’ and I’d be like ‘Well, what did the Raiders say?’ He’d say ‘These people are offering this’ and I’d be like ‘Have you checked with the Raiders in the last couple of days?’”
Not a lot is known about the teams interested in Koonce during free agency, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said there were at least three teams trying hard to sign him and Koonce left longer deals on the table.
“I can tell you for a fact that Koonce could have [gone] other places and gotten a longer deal, and gotten what some would have thought was a better deal,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “I know of three teams that were greatly interested. And I think there were more, but there are three that I know factually.”
By signing a one-year deal, Koonce will have the opportunity to hit free agency again in 2025 and the 27-year-old could be in for a massive payday considering the contracts that were handed out to Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett in the last few months.
x: @raidersbeat
Then name them Hondo(Mr. NFL insider). That dude is annoying
Doubtful that Koonce turned down a significant deal just to sign a 1yr deal. Just doesn’t make any sense.