As written last week, the Raiders’ free agency spending spree left them out of salary-cap space and in need of making some moves to get their books in order. The first of those took place Wednesday. The Raiders restructured the contract of veteran center Rodney Hudson by converting $11.6 million of his base salary into
There are always ways of “massaging” the cap. But, as stated, this makes complete sense. Hudson is a player we are definitely NOT looking to move on from. That is especially true if Carr, for whatever reason, is not the QB this season.
Hudson is the best player on the roster and always seems to act in the best interests of the team. Great that this signals he will be staying (I hope he ends his stellar career with us).
Is there any position we have had with more outstanding talent than C? I know we have had great DBs but how about Otto, Dalby, Mosebar and now Hudson as top level performers at the pivot? Not sure any team can match that crew….
You left out Barret Robbins. He was tremendous for many seasons before his bipolar disorder became too much for him to overcome. But, yes, center seemingly always has been a position of strength for the Raiders.
Good shout…. a very talented guy. A real shame about his health issues….
Heh, heh, Cork, as I was reading this I was wondering why the hold up with restructuring Carr’s contract, and then, you answered it in the next paragraph or so! Thank you for your insight on this side of the game.
Glad that Hudson is going to be in the plans for the near future. I would still like to see Gabe Jackson back since I think his poor form is due more to the injuries than declining ability. But, it sounds like Mayock and Gruden think differently.
I was reading an article that raised the issue of Tom Cable’s blocking scheme as being one that leads to a high number of injuries for his O linemen.
Not sure of the accuracy of that (i dont claim to know enough about the relative stresses caused by the different types of scheme) but Gabe has certainly been hampered by injuries (as have a lot of our line) the last couple of seasons… coincidence that this has been under Cable?
Yeah, I’m not sure if that’s coincidence or someone just trying to draw a link between Cable and injuries as a means to criticize him.
You’re welcome, Michelle. As an aside, Gruden and Mayock still could restructure Carr’s contract in such a way that it frees up some cap room this season, while making a parting of ways only a tad more costly next season. The goal, of course, is to avoid paying anything more than the $2.5 million they are on the hook for at this point. Still, for a quarterback, that’s still a pittance. Just check out the figures attached to Nick Foles, Tom Brady, etc., this season for their former teams.