|
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders essentially traded Michael Crabtree for Jordy Nelson on Thursday, and not just because the two have similar skill sets and career statistics. Consider: Crabtree, 30, was due $14.5 million in base salary the next two seasons, and the Raiders inked Nelson, 32, to a two-year, $15 million deal with $13 million guaranteed. But the Raiders also may have upgraded themselves in terms of locker room chemistry, even if Crabtree did author three straight seasons with at least eight touchdown receptions in Oakland. Because just as his time with the San Francisco 49ers ended ugly with talk of locker room dissension, so, too, did it in Oakland.  It all led to the notion that Crabtree is a good player on a good team, but when he’s on a team that's not doing so hot? You get the drift.
Indeed, Crabtree became a forgotten man in the Raiders' offense down the stretch last season, getting targeted a total of five times the last two weeks after getting 30 total targets in Weeks 14 and 15. “If I react, then I’m a bad guy, you know what I’m saying?” Crabtree said after the season finale loss at the Los Angeles Chargers, minutes after Jack Del Rio was fired as coach. “I do everything I’m supposed to do. I play 60 minutes every time we play. Game winners after game winners. I do everything they ask of me [but] these last two games and I’ve probably had three targets. But nobody is saying anything about that, but it’s all good. I’m going to keep working hard, man, and be me.” That’s not taking into account his fight with Aqib Talib after the then-Broncos cornerback ripped off his gold chain in a game for the second time in as many years, with Crabtree serving a league-mandated one-game suspension for his role. Still, coach Jon Gruden had said he looked forward to working with Crabtree. But that was before Nelson became available with the Green Bay Packers cutting him this week and Nelson spending Wednesday and Thursday visiting the Raiders. A quick career comparison, then: Crabtree -- 579 catches for 6,870 yards (11.9 yards per catch) and 51 TDs in 125 games over nine seasons. Nelson -- 550 catches for 7,848 yards (14.3 yards per catch) and 69 TDs in 136 games over nine seasons. Nelson, known in Green Bay as “White Lightning,” was Aaron Rodgers’ favorite deep threat with 14 touchdown catches of at least 50 yards, the second most in the NFL since Nelson entered the NFL in 2008. Only DeSean Jackson, with 21 such TDs, has more. And that’s with Nelson missing all of the 2015 season with a right knee injury. Sure, Nelson rebounded impressively with 97 catches for 1,257 yards and an NFL-leading 14 TDs in 2016, but he regressed to 53-482-6 last season, albeit, with Rodgers missing nine games due to injury. Still, some observers wondered if Nelson would retire after being cut. Nelson may no longer be the deep threat he was in Green Bay, but the Raiders do not need him as such. Rather, being a possession receiver like Crabtree is in the cards. Gruden said Amari Cooper will be the “focal point” and “headliner” of the Raiders' offense. Having a sure-handed veteran such as Nelson also should help Carr. Again, consider: Cooper and Crabtree are second and third in the NFL in drops since 2015 with 22 and 19, respectively, per ESPN Stats & Information. Sure, Crabtree came up clutch at times for Oakland (think at New Orleans and Baltimore in 2016, against Kansas City with no time on the clock in 2017), but he also had a series of galling drops, perhaps none more mystifying than the goal-line gaffe at Philadelphia on Christmas night ... with Gruden in the ESPN Monday Night Football booth. “They only want me to play 10 plays, I’ll play 10 plays,” Crabtree said. “The season is over now. Ain’t nothing I can do about it, you know? “I wasn’t in the game plan. So I did what I was supposed to do. Every time I went in, I did my job.” Carr put up a tweet, purportedly to Crabtree, after the news of his release broke. Nelson, meanwhile, has raised a Super Bowl trophy, in Green Bay with Charles Woodson. And Nelson had three seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards and 10 TD catches, while the last Raiders receiver to do so was Tim Brown in 2000. Plus, Nelson has authored three seasons with at least 1,250 receiving yards and 13 TDs -- in 2011, 2014 and 2016. Only Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (six) Randy Moss (five) and Terrell Owens (four) have had more such seasons in NFL history. Are Nelson’s best days behind him? Sure, but the Raiders are counting on coming out ahead in this “trade” rather than holding on to Crabtree and pairing him with Nelson, who reunites with his old Packers position coach and offensive coordinator in Raiders WRs coach Edgar Bennett, and putting Cooper in the slot. “Big body, long speed receiver who can help stretch the field,” Woodson wrote of Nelson in a text. “Does great job uncovering when QB breaks the pocket. Great teammate.” And there it is.
|
