Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
One week later and 9 Raiders free agents still unemployed
A great many departing Raiders found new homes over the past week. Some were re-signed to the team as well. You can all the team’s additions, retentions, and subtractions right here in our free agency tracker.
But not all of those who were a member of the Raiders a week ago have found a landing spot yet. Specifically these nine.
The Steelers need to add a slot receiver and ESPN thinks Hunter Renfrow is the best fit.
After a whirlwind start to free agency, the Pittsburgh Steelers are hopeful that all these changes will result in more wins in 2024, especially in the playoffs. But after trading away wide receiver Diontae Johnson, Pittsburgh finds itself in desperate need of at least one new wide receiver and one of those needs to be a veteran who can bring some maturity and leadership to the receiver room.
ESPN talked about the best fits for some of the top remaining free agents and they targeted former Las Vegas Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow as a fit for the Steelers.
Best fit: Pittsburgh Steelers. Diontae Johnson has been traded to the Panthers, and while the Steelers signed Van Jefferson, the former Rams wideout hasn’t been effective for most of his pro career. Renfrow would compete with Calvin Austin for reps as the team’s third receiver and return man.
Renfrow in the slot is a much better option than Austin who hasn’t found a spot in this offense. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith might have a plan to get Austin on track but the production of Renfrow cannot be denied.
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QB Jimmy Garoppolo and Hunter Renfrow among 4 Raiders officially released
With the start of the new league comes a house cleaning of sorts. The Raiders first official act in that regard was to release four players from their roster.
Out are:
QB Jimmy Garoppolo
QB Brian Hoyer
WR Hunter Renfrow
DT Jerry Tillery
None of the players were released were with a June 1st designation, which means the Raiders clear some $22 million in cap space. Most of which coming from the Garoppolo ($11.26 million) and Renfrow ($8.2 million) releases.
That money is being sent directly to the additions of DT Christian Wilkins, QB Gardners Minshew, and TE Harrison Bryant. Along with the re-signing of C Andre James.
Garoppolo was signed last offseason to a two-year deal and ended up starting just six games before being benched for rookie Aidan O’Connell.
Renfrow had a Pro Bowl season in 2021, becoming just the third Raiders receiver ever to catch over 100 passes (103). He signed a new deal and then fell off the past two seasons after Josh McDaniels took over as head coach.
Tillery was never really all that effective. And new GM Tom Telesco had already cut him with the Chargers two seasons ago, so you know he wasn’t a fan either.
Hoyer…lol.
Ahead of his expected release, Hunter Renfrow said his goodbye to Raider Nation
We are just under two hours before the official start of NFL free agency. At which point the Raiders are expected to release receiver Hunter Renfrow.
Ahead of his release being made official, the former Pro Bowl slot receiver took to social media to say goodbye to the team on which he spent the past five seasons.
Raider Nation, thank you for welcoming me and my family in the last 5 years. From Oakland to Vegas it felt like home.
I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my teammates and coaches inspiring me every single day. 5 years went by quick…… “Once a Raider Always a Raider” pic.twitter.com/GZ4cHUnlby— Hunter Renfrow (@renfrowhunter) March 13, 2024
“Once a Raider always a Raider,” Renfrow ended his message with.
Renfrow was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 draft (149 overall) out of Clemson. He went on to catch 269 passes for 2884 yards and 17 TD’s. And the term ‘Third and Renfrow” became a regular part of our vernacular.
This included a season in which he caught 103 passes in a season which is third in team history, just one behind the record Tim Brown had held for 23 years. It would lead to Renfrow receiving a new long term deal.
Then he saw a sharp downturn in his targets and receptions when Josh McDaniels took over as head coach. And now the team is taking the $8.2 million in cap relief with his release. Sad ending to a once very promising looking career for Renfrow with the Raiders.
What Condition Raiders Position is in: wide receiver
With free agency under a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ wide receiver position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.
Adams had a down year with the Raiders due in large part to the QB situation. But keep in mind a down year for Adams is still better than the best year for most receivers. Meyers enjoyed a career year while Adams was dragging coverage away from him. Renfrow had his second poor season in Josh McDaniels’s offense that forgot he existed. Tucker flashed late in his rookie season and could be one to watch.
Adams is still one of the best in the game and getting a QB with an arm and pocket presence will bear that out. Meyers proved he is a worthy number two starter. The prevailing thinking is that the team will be moving on from Renfrow, opting for the cap money it would save. His departure would only drop the condition to Stable, mainly because the team likes the speedy Tucker to step up in that case, so they’d still be ok.
As the Saints enter a make or break offseason, Bleacher Report list the three biggest priorities this offseason for better results in 2024:
The Saints are heading into a make or break season with an aging team and a coach who is on the hot seat. If things don’t work in 2024, New Orleans will likely hit the reset button. Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton has identified the priorities this offseason for the Saints to achieve the desired success.
Let’s look at his first point. The first priority is hiring an offensive coordinator to get the best out of Derek Carr. This is the number one most important decision of the offseason. New Orleans can’t go through next year with the same issues offensively. Carr has a reputation of struggling in his first year in a system. No one can afford that trend to continue. The team will struggle, Dennis Allen will be fired and in turn so will the new offensive coordinator.
The second priority is getting creative with more salary cap gymnastics. This is simple. The Saints are over the cap by more than $80 million and can’t go into the offseason that way. This is regular so it’s almost just something to document opposed to worrying about it. They always get it done and typically without much loss on the roster.
And the last thing Bleacher Report suggests is finding a way to reunite Carr with his old Raiders teammate Hunter Renfrow. While it sounds good on paper to reunite the pair, it doesn’t feel necessary. Renfrow’s usage and production have plummeted over the last two seasons. Gaining talent in the trenches is a greater priority than adding a receiver. If the Saints do add a receiver, they shouldn’t be dead-set on adding Renfrow. He may not be available until after June 1, so this gives the Saints all of free agency and the draft to view other options.
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Times they are-a-changin: Raiders wide receiver corps ranked slowest in NFL
Never in my life did I expect to see a stat like this for the Raiders. The slowest wide receiver corps in the league?? Al Davis is spinning in his grave.
Route-weighted 40-yard dash times for every offense's WR room in 2023. Decent way to look at how much speed each team put on the field from the wide receiver position pic.twitter.com/AsKYLbWOZO
— Arjun Menon (@arjunmenon100) January 18, 2024
Many of you are probably wondering why Tre Tucker’s speed wouldn’t raise this number a bit. Well, first of all, as the chart suggests, it’s weighted for routes run. And Tucker was not a big part of the Raiders offense this season.
With routes run as the filter here, and since I don’t have the raw routes run numbers, I will go by targets, let’s list the Raiders receivers by targets and their 40 times.
Davante Adams 4.56, 963 snaps, 175 targets
Jakobi Meyers 4.63, 903 snaps, 106 targets
Hunter Renfrow 4.59, 363 snaps, 37 targets
Tre Tucker 4.4 334 snaps, 34 targets
DeAndre Carter 4.44, 102 snaps, 7 targets
So, yeah, Tucker has a decent 40 time of 4.4 flat. Though, it’s no Jacoby Ford (4.28) or Darrius Heyward-Bey (4.3). Not many are.
But more importantly, Tucker saw just a third of the snaps this season with Adams and Meyers getting the vest majority of the snaps and targets and their 40 times are not special.
Not that any of this is a big deal, really. Adams in certainly a deep threat with plenty of ability to get separation. Tucker did see his snaps and targets go up over the final few games of the season, twice setting new career-highs in catches and yards in those games.
Mostly it’s just pretty stunning to see the Raiders of all teams last on this list as classically, that has not been the case.
5 potential Raiders offseason cuts and cap ramifications
There is a bit of house cleaning that needs to happen this offseason for the Raiders. Currently they have around $38.8 million in cap space. That lands them at 12th most in the league. But they can do better.
Cuts aren’t always about cap savings, to be clear. But sometimes it’s either the main reason for the cut or a nice byproduct. Should they make all five of the cuts below, the Raiders would save an additional $13.86 million to bring their space under the cap to $52.64 million. That would jump them up to 8th in the league as it currently stands.
Podcast: NFL trade deadline recap, Saints-Bears preview with predictions
The Saints Wire podcast is live with managing editor John Sigler (@john_siglerr) and our host Ryan O’Leary (@RyanOLearySMG). You can subscribe for new episodes released each week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your podcast service of choice.
This week we’re recapping an eventful NFL trade deadline which included a Saints-Raiders trade that may have been scuttled by sweeping layoffs in Las Vegas, then pivoting to Week 9’s matchup with the Chicago Bears. A vulnerable Saints run defense could become a problem against an underrated Bears rushing attack, but this is a game New Orleans should win handily.
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No deals came to fruition, but Mickey Loomis says the Saints were inclined to be buyers, not sellers at Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline:
This lines up with what we’re hearing from national outlets: New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said Tuesday evening that he and the team were inclined to be buyers, not sellers, at the NFL trade deadline. Loomis commented on the situation during a regular appearance on WWL Radio with Mike Hoss, which you can listen to here.
“We talked to a couple of teams about a couple of things, more in the acquisition area as opposed to trading somebody,” Loomis told Hoss. “We didn’t really talk about trading anyone from our team. We did talk to a couple teams about an acquisition, but I wouldn’t say it ever got really serious.”
One player the Saints reportedly looked to acquire was Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, a favorite target of Derek Carr from his past experience with the team. But trade talks were scuttled in the hours leading up to the deadline, either through the teams struggling to work out the financial aspect or the Raiders firing anyone with authority to take Loomis’s phone call, including general manager Dave Ziegler.
Loomis added that these negotiations are often complicated by both team’s salary cap situations as well as the free agency outlook in the next offseason, not to mention their forecasts through the rest of the current season. It isn’t as simple as calling another team and offering a pick for a player before confirming a deal with the league office in New York.
And it’s easy to see why the Saints were looking to add more talent, not shed it. They’ve clawed their way back to a 4-4 record with several very winnable games in front of them; it will be a big disappointment if they don’t go into the bye week with a 6-4 record later in November. They’re coming off maybe their most impressive win of the season and they have few contracts that could be traded away for salary cap relief.
The talent on the roster isn’t the problem. It’s been the self-inflicted wounds holding them back: poor execution, mental errors, and too many sloppy penalties. If they don’t get to the playoffs this year, it’ll because of poor coaching and lacking effort on Sundays, not any lacking physical tools or pro experience.
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