A few days ago, the Raiders looked done in free agency. They had about $5 million in available money under the cap, which is about what it figures to cost them to sign their rookie class. That all changed when their deal with cornerback Eli Apple fell through.
With Apple’s deal reportedly at $6 million against the 2020 cap, they suddenly had that money to spend all over again. They acted fast. Literally six hours after Apple was no longer in the picture, the Raiders made the move to sign safety Damarious Randall instead.
The question was if this would be a straight-up moving of cash from one player to another or not. Well, it turns out, Randall – while seemingly being a more widely celebrated signing – will cost roughly half as much.
Randall will make a reported $3.25 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan.
His 1-year deal is worth $3.25m total (with PT incentives).
They had interest in signing him at the start of free agency; monitored situation since then.
Though they plan to line him up at safety, has ability to be used in other ways for matchup purposes. Nice value signing. https://t.co/jKREFuQHTM
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) April 3, 2020
That also means the Raiders have a little money to sign some lesser free agents, should they choose to do so. They still need to think about perhaps getting a cornerback now that Apple is gone.
There are a few other positions still in need as well which they could address. Keep in mind, most free agents still out there should be pretty affordable.
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