Maurice Jones-Drew has seen a steep fall from his 2011 season, in which he led the NFL with 1606 rushing yards. That season, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry on 343 carries, added 43 catches for 374 yards and scored 11 times. He did all of that on an otherwise abysmal offense during Blaine Gabbert’s rookie year, which makes it all the more impressive. That off-season, he demanded a contract that would have paid him among the best running backs in the NFL, holding out almost into the season when the Jaguars didn’t meet his demands.

It turns out that not paying him was one of the best moves the Jaguars have made over the past 5 years. After a 1084 touch workload from 2009-2011, MJD cracked in 2012, managing just 84 carries over 6 years, though he did average 4.8 yards per carry. 2013 was arguably worse as he averaged just 3.4 yards per carry on 234 carries, scored just 5 times on 277 touches, and had just 5 touches go for 20+ yards. One a candidate to be the highest paid running back in the NFL on his next contract, MJD was met with a frigid market as a free agent going into his age 29 season, signing this 3 year, 7.5 million dollar deal with the Raiders that has just 2.5 million over 1 year guaranteed.

MJD’s rough 2013 season could be largely the result of the complete lack of offensive talent, and thus running room, around him in Jacksonville. However, he averaged just 2.2 yards after contact, broke just 26 tackles, and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 2^nd worst running back in terms of pure running grade. Now going into his age 29 season with 2139 career touches, he’s unlikely to get more explosive going into 2014.

He’ll be an asset for the Raiders in passing downs because he still has strong pass catching and pass blocking skills, catching 43 passes and grading out above average on Pro Football Focus in both pass catching grade and pass blocking grade, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 2^nd best running back in pass blocking grade. He’s probably a worse pure runner than Darren McFadden, but he’ll still contribute for the Raiders in some form.

He’ll make up an underwhelming running back tandem with McFadden as both running backs have lost a great deal of explosiveness over the past 2 seasons due to injury, but this is a fairly inexpensive deal. It’s a solid value when you compare it to other deals received by running backs this off-season, including Darren McFadden (1 year, 4 million), Joique Bell (3 years, 9.3 million), Donald Brown (3 years, 10.5 million), Ben Tate (2 years, 7 million), Knowshon Moreno (1 year, 3 million), LeGarrette Blount (2 years, 3.85 million), and Rashad Jennings (4 years, 14 million) this off-season.

Grade: B+

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The Raiders let a number of good, young players go this off-season, letting LaMarr Houston, Vance Walker, and Jared Veldheer leave and replacing them with aging veterans like Antonio Smith, Justin Tuck, LaMarr Woodley, and Donald Penn. It’s an odd strategy and use of cap space. That being said, they’re making a great move here bringing back Pat Sims on a cheap, one year deal after he, for some reason, generated very little interest on the open market.

Sims was a 3^rd round pick by the Bengals in 2008 and was a largely irrelevant backup in Cincinnati for 5 years before last season, playing a combined 481 snaps in 2011 and 2012. He broke out in Oakland last season, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 17^th ranked defensive tackle last season on 694 snaps, excelling against the run and grading out above average as both a pass rusher and a run stopper. He’s still just a one year wonder at this point, which is part of the reason why he saw little interest on the open market, but this is still a steal for the Raiders, bringing him back for 2 million over 1 year. He’s only going into his age 29 season so he’s still relatively young, which is a positive contrast from most of the moves the Raiders have made this off-season.

Grade: A

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Darren McFadden has never been able to live up to his billing as the 4th overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft and was never able to live up to his huge 2010 season, in which he rushed for 1157 yards and 7 touchdowns on 223 carries (5.2 yards per carry) and added 47 catches for another 501 yards and 3 scores. In 3 seasons since, he’s played a total of 29 games out of 48 and rushed for just 1700 yards and 11 touchdowns on 446 carries (3.8 yards per carry).

This season, he was Pro Football Focus’ 2nd worst ranked running back. Even with the big 2010 season, he’s never played more than 13 games in a season or had more than 223 carries or 270 touches. In his 2nd straight season of sub-3.5 yards per carry in 2013, he was benched for backup Rashad Jennings following an injury. McFadden supporters always seem to make excuses for him, blaming the blocking scheme, and the lack of supporting talent, or injuries, but at a certain point when he needs to be written off as a bust.

This 1-year, 4 million dollar deal won’t hurt the Raiders long-term, but they’re giving him another chance to be the starter when I don’t think he deserves it. Even if it is a one-year deal, this contract has an annual value higher than every other running back signed this off-season, including Ben Tate (2 years, 7 million) Joique Bell (3 years, 9.3 million), Donald Brown (3 years, 10.5 million), and Rashad Jennings (4 years, 14 million). Guys like Andre Brown, Knowshon Moreno, and Maurice Jones-Drew, all still available, probably will get less than 4 million yearly as well when they end up getting signed.

Most of, if not all of those running backs are better than McFadden. The Raiders would have been better off re-signing Jennings to a contract similar to the one the Giants gave him. Jennings, with the Raiders last year, rushed for 733 yards and 6 touchdowns on 163 carries, an average of 4.5 yards per carry, and added 36 catches for 292 yards through the air, taking over as the starter for Darren McFadden mid-season. Even if they didn’t want to go that direction, there were a number of better things they could have done at the running back position this off-season.

Grade: C

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This is an overpay for Austin Howard, who has been a solid, but unspectacular right tackle for the Jets in 2 seasons as a starter, grading out 31st among offensive tackles on Pro Football Focus in 2012 and 47th in 2013. Giving him 30 million over 5 years with 15 million guaranteed looks bad in comparison to some of the deals given to right tackles recently. Sebastian Vollmer (4 years, 17 million), Andre Smith (3 years, 18 million), and Phil Loadholt (4 years, 25 million) all were re-signed last off-season and all 3 of them are better than Howard.

However, the Raiders have a ton of cap room and money to spend to get to the salary floor and they’re hardly a premium destination so they can get away with overpaying guys more than most teams. I’d much rather see them overpay someone who can be a young building block for the team than appropriately pay someone who is 30+ and won’t be around much longer, which is much of what they’ve done this off-season (Matt Schaub, Antonio Smith, LaMarr Woodley, Justin Tuck, Donald Penn). Austin Howard is only going into his age 27 season can be a fixture at right tackle for a few seasons.

Grade: B-

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Trade for Oakland: I understand the Raiders need to spend a certain amount of money over the next 3 seasons to get to the salary floor for the 2013-2016 period (after being unable to spend much cash last season because of all the dead money on their cap). However, the Raiders, for some reason, have seemed much more interested in shelling out this cash to over 30 veterans rather than re-signing their own talented young building blocks and signing talented under 30 players from other teams.

I would have much rather seen them overpay under 30 building blocks a little bit, giving them the financial incentive they needed to play for a franchise with as poor a recent history as the Raiders, rather than signing guys in the tail end of their careers. Right now their best young player is probably Sio Moore. I like Sio Moore, but the Raiders need to be in a better position than this. Stefen Wisniewski, their center, is another young building block, but they’ve shown no urgency in getting a long-term deal done with him ahead of his contract year in 2014.

Jared Veldheer and LaMarr Houston, two of their few young building blocks from last year, are out, while guys like Justin Tuck, LaMarr Woodley, Antonio Smith, and Donald Penn, who won’t be around at any time the Raiders can hope to be good, are in. Vance Walker and Pat Sims, two underrated cogs in the machine and part of the reason why the Raiders were passable defensively last season, are not with the team any more.

Walker is now in Kansas City, while Sims remains on the open market. Tuck, Smith, and Woodley are solid players, but I don’t think going from Houston, Walker, and Sims to them makes them more talented on the defensive line, just older. Donald Penn is an upgrade over what they had at left tackle for most of last season with Veldheer hurt, but he’s an obvious downgrade from a healthy Veldheer.

I really liked the Tarell Brown move as I think he’ll provide a massive upgrade at cornerback for cheap, albeit only for one year. Austin Howard, though he was overpaid, will upgrade right tackle. Matt Schaub, who they traded for today, also will represent an upgrade over guys like Matt McGloin and Terrelle Pryor, but the Raiders are now projected to have 30+ year old starters at 9 of 22 positions in 2014, a weird spot for a team whose #1 priority needs to be building for the future. Letting talented young players go and replacing them with aging veterans really seems to lack direction. Now, they seem to be going all in for a 6-10 season next year, even at the expense of playing time for youngsters.

All that being said, I’m not as down on Matt Schaub as others. He’s an obvious upgrade over Matt McGloin and Terrelle Pryor. Last year was miserable for Schaub, as he completed 61.2% of his passes for an average of 6.45 YPA, 10 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions, getting benched regularly for the likes of Case Keenum and TJ Yates and putting up a quarterback rating of 73.0, close to 18 points lower than the season before. He’s going into his age 33 season so he’s on the decline, but I don’t know if the decline is quite as rapid as last year made it look. He’s not the 90s QB rating guy he was from 2008-2012 anymore, but that doesn’t mean that his low 70s QB rating from last year wasn’t somewhat fluky.

He would have been a smart stopgap starter at quarterback on the open market for a team that needed one. But to trade a draft pick (even a late round one) and pay him 11 million dollars when he would have been available for no draft pick compensation and probably in the neighborhood of 5-7 million yearly on the open market in a week doesn’t make any sense. The Raiders were worried he’d sign elsewhere so they panicked and trade for him. Panicking because you think you’re going to lose out on Matt Schaub is not a smart move. He’s not a top-20 quarterback anymore.

Grade: C

Trade for Houston: As for Houston, this is an obvious win for them. They were going to cut him to save 4 million in cap space and 11 million in cash. Instead, they are able to get something for him and still take on the cap and in cash. Their compensation in return for Schaub is minimal, but it’s better than nothing.

Grade: A

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This contract is way better than the one the Raiders gave to Rodger Saffold (5 years 42.5 million). The Raiders lucked out when Saffold failed his physical, though it is pretty pathetic that the Raiders needed a failed physical to prevent them from making a massive mistake. That being said, Donald Penn at 9.6 million over 2 years, with only 4.2 million in the first year guaranteed, is a very solid deal. Penn was cut by the Buccaneers because he was overpaid and they had a chance to get a better offensive tackle (Anthony Collins) for less money.

However, he’s still a solid player who graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 31^st ranked offensive tackle last season and who has graded out above average on Pro Football Focus in each of the last 6 seasons. He’s going into his age 31 season and he has a history of weight problems, but he’s still a solid starting left tackle and he’s being very reasonable paid. That being said, it’s another case of the Raiders signing an over 30 player. What is their end game with this rebuild? They had plenty of cap room. Why didn’t they bring back Jared Veldheer to man the blindside or go after another top left tackle?

Grade: B+

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This is another one of the Raiders’ weird signings of 30+ year old players (currently 5 starters on defense are 30+). As I’ve said, this is a weird approach for a team that needs to focus on a two or three year rebuild. However, I like this move a little bit more than the Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley deals. It’s a little bit cheaper (9 million over 2 years) and they’re getting a similar caliber player to Tuck and Woodley. Smith is going into his age 33 season, but he’s graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 8^th, 6^th, and 18^th ranked 3-4 defensive end in each of the last 3 seasons respectively. He’s especially excelled as a pass rusher, grading out 2^nd, 2^nd, and 5^th respectively purely in pass rush grade over those 3 seasons respectively.

One concern is that he might be too small to play defensive tackle in a 4-3 at 6-4 285. He was already a liability against the run in Houston’s 3-4, but now he’ll be even closer to the center of the formation so his size could be an even bigger issue. Before 2011, he really was a player without a position, before Wade Phillips found the perfect role for him in Houston’s 3-4, giving him plenty of opportunities to be a one gap penetrator and get after the quarterback, even at the expense of the run. I don’t know how well he’ll fit schematically in Oakland, but I think this signing has a chance to be a good one, even if the Raiders’ entire off-season direction confuses me.

Grade: B+

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Like the Justin Tuck deal, the money is about right here for LaMarr Woodley. He was overpaid in Pittsburgh and he isn’t the same player he was in 2010, when he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 5^th ranked 3-4 outside linebacker and he hasn’t played more than 641 snaps in any of the last 3 seasons, missing 14 games combined over that time period. However, he’s still graded out above average on Pro Football Focus in each of the last 3 seasons, including a 10^th place finish this past season. He’s not an every down player anymore and he’s going into his age 30 season, but he can still be a very solid player on about 600 snaps for the next couple of seasons, which is the length of this deal (2 year, 12 million). There is some concern that he hasn’t played in a pure 4-3 since college, but it probably won’t be a huge issue.

All that being said, like with the Justin Tuck deal, I really don’t understand what direction the Raiders are going in this off-season. They’re using all their cap space to sign players who are 30+ (Justin Tuck, LaMarr Woodley, Antonio Smith, Donald Penn) to replace talented young players that they let leave (Jared Veldheer, LaMarr Houston, Vance Walker, Pat Sims). They haven’t overpaid anyone and I really like the one year deal that they signed Tarell Brown to, but the Raiders need to be focusing on a two-three year rebuild and this isn’t really the way to do it.

Grade: B

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The price here is right for Justin Tuck, 11 million over 2 seasons. Tuck was a dominant defensive lineman from 2008-2010, grading out 4^th, 6^th, and 9^th among 4-3 defensive ends, but he was only an average starter in 2011 and 2012. However, he had a great contract year in 2013, grading out 7^th as Pro Football Focus ranked 4-3 defensive end. He’s going into his age 31 season so he’s probably on the decline, but I still believe he can be an average or above average starter over the next couple seasons and this deal is only for a couple of seasons.

That being said, I think it’s kind of weird the way the Raiders are approaching the off-season. I loved the cheap one year signing of Tarell Brown, but other than that, their approach has been weird. They let LaMarr Houston and Jared Veldheer, young, talented players in their prime of their career, leave on reasonable deals when they had so much cap room and then they used that cap room to sign over 30 veterans who won’t be around anymore at any point in time when the Raiders could even hope to be good.

They also didn’t re-sign Vance Walker and have made no effort to bring back Pat Sims, two underrated players who were part of the reason why the Raiders were even passable defensively last year. 5.5 million yearly to Justin Tuck isn’t a bad deal and neither is 6 million yearly to LaMarr Woodley (which I’ll get into next), but wouldn’t it make more sense to give Houston 7 million yearly (or 8 million yearly if that’s what it would have taken for him to stay in Oakland for their rebuild)?

Grade: B

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Tarell Brown has been an above average starter for the 49ers in each of the past 3 seasons, grading out above average on Pro Football Focus in each of the last 3 seasons, maxing out at 13^th overall in 2012, including 4^th in pure coverage grade. However, the worst of his 3 seasons as a starter was this season as he “only” graded out 32^nd and missed 3 games with a rib injury that limited him upon his return. As a result, the cap strapped 49ers only offered him 10 million over 3 years.

Apparently the rest of his market wasn’t much better as he decided it would be best for him to take a one-year deal to rehab his value and give free agency another shot, even if it was for only 3.5 million and even if it was with a terrible team like the Raiders. The Raiders are obviously the beneficiary. Normally bad teams have to pay a premium to get players to sign with them, but they were able to get an above average starter at a position of need at a very cheap rate.

Grade: A

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