John Clayton and Mike Sando of ESPN are reporting that the Seattle Seahawks have indeed won the free agency bidding for Raiders’ tight end Zach Miller. For most Raider fans the re-signing of Miller was essential to the vitality of the offense. If Al Davis wasn’t on his way to the grave before, he may just be after he suffers this heart attack. As it stands right now, Miller has agreed to the terms of the contract, but there is still a tiny sliver of hope since he has yet to sign the deal. But at 5 years, $34 million, with $17 million guaranteed, it’ll be hard for the Raiders to match.
Before you suffer a conniption fit, there is one good thing about this move – it means that somebody else is going to lead the Raiders in receptions this year.
Now for the bad news, which is so much worse than the good news. Miller has been the most rock steady receiver for the Raiders over the past three seasons. He was originally a second round pick in the draft that also brought the atrocious JaWalruss to the organization.
Losing Miller this season is not good timing, as there are virtually no good tight ends in free agency. But at the same time, you may be able to take a different angle on this thing and look at it as though Al Davis and the Raiders were expecting to lose Miller when they drafted two tight ends in this year’s NFL draft.
Personally, though, I would feel a whole heck of a lot better if they had drafted one Virgil Green out of Nevada instead of the two that they did draft. However, Levi Damien was bragging about how good David Ausberry’s hands were in practice on Monday. The Raiders coaches apparently really like what they have seen from the other rookie, Richard Gordon, as well.
This move also makes you question the character of Zach Miller because more than likely he believes a load of crap that Al Davis’ newest arch enemy, Tom Cable, is pitching to him. Miller’s signing with the Seahawks for even remotely close to what the Raiders are offering is his virtual spit in the face of the Raider fans and organization.
That said, it is a business, and sometimes you lose accounts to your competitors — and in this case to a former divisional rival. I hope everything goes well for Miller in the most putrid division in football. Perhaps if the Raiders hadn’t beaten the Seahawks down on Halloween in 2010, Miller wouldn’t have felt they needed his help so bad. Here’s hoping he can keep that streak of injuries going with the injury prone Robert Gallery up there. They’ll have good run blocking… sometimes. They will still probably make the playoffs this year at 7-9 – which is absolutely pathetic, but whatever.
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