Notable NFL News (Cuts, Signings, Injuries, etc.)

The Raiders think they’re rolling the dice on Richie Incognito. In reality, they could be playing with fire.

The folks at BuffaloRumblings.com spotted this passage from the AP story regarding Oakland’s decision to sign Incognito: “A person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that security was stepped up at the Bills headquarters around the time Incognito announced his retirement on social media. Though he wasn’t entirely barred from the facility, security personnel were placed on alert if Incognito arrived, the person said, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.”

As a league source explained it to PFT, the perception/reality regarding Incognito based on his time in Buffalo is that he’ll be fine for an extended period of time, but that he’ll fly off the handle without warning, causing some people to fear for their safety. That meshes entirely with the report that the Bills increased security during the slow-motion social-media campaign by Incognito to retire, to unretire, and to demand his release from the team.

Obviously, the Raiders currently believe Incognito is fine, and he may be fine for a while. But what happens if he once again flies off the handle without warning? Will it be enough in the aftermath of whatever he does for the Raiders to say, “Well, we did our homework, we talked to an awful lot of people, we talked to Richie, we told Richie what we expected both on and off the field, we expected him to adhere to that, and by the way you can’t have all Boy Scouts”?

Brian Gaine and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Offseason

Despite of himself, Gaine got lucky when Mathieu signed with the Chiefs.



March 12th started out well enough. After losing out on Mathieu, Gaine picked up Tashaun Gipson, probably a better player at this stage of their careers, for far less than what Mathieu received. Gipson’s three-year deal was a good move.



For me, losing Rodger Saffold to the despised BE-SFs of Methoptamia was the beginning of the end. Saffold’s four-year, $44MM deal would have easily fit within our cap constraints, and as one of the best guards in the NFL, he would have quickly upgraded the offense line AND given a rookie left tackle a great veteran presence. Alas, it seems that Saffold’s salary number crossed Gaine’s line in the sand, so shrug emoji.

All throughout the offseason, Gaine failed to find help for the interior pass rush, probably feeling pretty proud of himself for that sweet Blackson signing. We could have handled Malik Jackson’s (three years, $30MM from the Eagles) or Sheldon Richardon’s (three years, $36MM from the Browns) contracts easily. Or Gerald McCoy’s deal with the Panthers, which broke a particular writer. Ndamukong Suh and Muhammad Wilkerson are both still free agents, at least.

We also signed the worst OT in football, Matt Kalil, to a contract.

The Iggles, of course, jumped ahead of us to grab Andre Dillard. Passing on Jawaan Taylor is also terribly confusing. If you believe that Howard was our first choice all along, I have mountain property to sell you in Conroe. As of now, Howard seems to be a less athletic version of Julie’n Davenport. At best, he’s a major project.



Continuing the theme of passivity in the second round, we didn’t move up to take a pro-ready CB (who is apparently already running with the 1s) in Greedy Williams. Instead, we passively waited for Lonnie Johnson, whose tape is simply awful. Look, maybe Williams can’t tackle. Fine. Johnson can apparently neither tackle NOR cover.