According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Marcus Mariota is expected to sign a reworked contract that will lower his base salary to $3.5 million.
Mariota’s previous cap number was just over $10.7 million and that means the Raiders will get around $7 million in salary cap room by adjusting his contract. Considering the team had under $1 million in cap room as of this morning, the relief from Mariota’s restructured deal gives the Raiders a good amount of room to address other needs in free agency (and yes, they still have many needs).
Mariota’s trade market diminished in recent weeks and while it seemed like Mariota may have had enough leverage to force the Raiders to drop him, it hurt his case that the Raiders didn’t owe him any significant roster bonuses between now and the start of the season. Essentially, the Raiders could have kept him on the roster until the regular season opener and released him at that time with no guaranteed money.
Mariota’s contract is now much more tradable and if another team suffers the loss of a starting quarterback between now and September, Mariota figures to be the hot trade commodity. His contract, which was one worth up to around $20 million can now only balloon up to $8 million – which should be enticing to teams like the Chicago Bears even now.
In hindsight, Mariota’s best move probably would have been to adjust his contract a few weeks ago to accommodate a trade, but his gamble didn’t pay off. Nevertheless, he seems to be happy with the Raiders and there is still a good chance he isn’t on the Raiders roster by the start of the season, anyway.
If Mariota does stay with the Raiders, Jon Gruden will have arguably the best backup quarterback in the NFL on his roster for another year.
For the Raiders… not a bad position to be in at all.
twitter: @raidersbeat
If this is factual information, I as a fan will be very impressed with how Mariota decided to handle the negotiations to help the team that gave him the opportunity to recover from his surgery in 2020. I personally think that he should have a chip on his shoulder towards every team that devalued his capabilities to be their starting QB in 2021! Let that chip carry thru into the 2021 season and work hand in hand with Derek Carr & Jon Gruden to build a playbook that involves 2 quarterbacks that are very capable of scoring points against every opponent that they will face! Just Win Baby…