It is now half way through Tuesday and the Raiders have been busy. They have signed left guard Daniel Loper to a new deal, signed running back Michael Bennett for another season, and put a round two franchise tender on linebacker Ricky Brown. Who knows what else is planned for today.
Daniel Loper backed up Robert Gallery at left guard last season and played well in relief while Gallery was out with an injury early in the season. With Gallery announcing that he will be moving on to greener pastures, re-signing Loper became a bit more urgent. He receives a two year, $3.9 million deal. That is pretty good money for a reserve guard in the NFL. In fact, it is just a bit less than the $2.5 million that was reportedly offered to Gallery as the starter.
Michael Bennett was re-signed to the veteran minimum on a one-year deal. He will be an insurance plan in the instance Michael Bush becomes an unrestricted free agent in the new CBA. Bennett was a fourth string running back for the team last season and rarely saw the field. He was a camp invite and impressed enough to get a contract for last season.
Ricky Brown gets a tender that seems a big high for the amount he has actually produced. That isn’t surprising, however, considering most of the tenders the Raiders hand out are a bit high (see first and third round tender on Stanford Routt in 2010). Brown will back up Rolando McClain at the middle linebacker spot just as he backed up Kirk Morrison before that. He is also a solid special teams player.
These deals come on the heels of the Raiders putting a round two tender on center Samson Satele on Monday and announcing they have finally named Chuck Bresnahan the defensive coordinator.
The Raiders are either burning holes in the desk signing contracts today or they are just now deciding to release the information on deals. We will keep you posted as I am sure they are not done. Still Mario Henderson and Langston Walker to go at very least.
Also see: Raiders tying up free agent loose ends
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