Usually, when you have a good player that holds out, the situation doesn’t end very well. Particularly when it goes into the season, the team misses their player and when he comes back, he’s rusty. But in the case of Oakland Raiders left tackle Donald Penn’s, the holdout ended well in every way.
At age 34, Penn doesn’t really need training camp and four preseason games to get ready for the season. So I believe Penn showed up just in time to play in the third preseason game, the dress rehearsal. He’ll get right in sink with the starters and still has two weeks to work out any kinks he may have.
And from the negotiating end of things, he will get to find out if general manager Reggie McKenzie is a man of his word. McKenzie, who does not negotiate with players under contract without reporting, has already said he’s open to a raise for Penn after he reports. So Penn has sent his message and will likely get the raise he wants.
For the Raiders, they got themselves a nice, long preview of what life without Penn will be like. Penn obviously doesn’t have a long time left playing in the NFL at his age so it was necessary. And the preview turned out very well as Marshall Newhouse played well in his place.
Fourth-round pick David Sharpe, who the Raiders picked to play right tackle, showed he may have a future at left tackle too. The Raiders wouldn’t have seen his potential so much if Penn showed up and took at the reps with the starters. So this was win, win, win as Penn is still back just in time for the regular season to kick off.
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