John Spytek is staying unpredictable after what was thought to be an obvious free agency move didn’t happen for the Raiders
The Raiders moved on from Daniel Carlson.
When the media began predicting the Raiders’ free agency moves, we knew we’d get most of it wrong.
It’s nearly impossible to guess what a team is going to do when they have $130 million in cap space and so many holes. Not to mention, this is a new era for the Raiders. However, almost everyone had the Raiders bringing back kicker Daniel Carlson on a $2 million-ish deal. Carlson didn’t have a great season last year, but there were seasons before that where he was the best kicker in the league, or at least in that debate. General manager John Spytek opted to remain unpredictable and signed a new kicker.
Raiders agree to terms with kicker Matt Gay
According to Tom Pelissero, the Raiders have signed former Washington Commanders and San Francisco 49ers kicker Matt Gay. The compensation hasn’t been released yet, but it couldn’t have been anything too crazy. Gay signed a $4.25 million deal for one year with the Commanders last season. He was drafted by Spytek and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so this is Spytek bringing in one of his guys.
However, our guy Q Meyers at ESPN Radio floated an idea with this signing—maybe it is just a temporary deal, and the Raiders use one of their many draft picks to select a kicker, then start fresh there. That’s not a bad idea; the only issue there is that you don’t want to be stuck in a continuous cycle of bad kickers, because that’s oftentimes a situation that can lose you games. We have seen it too many times, whether it’s the Raiders or another team.
Matt Gay, over the last three seasons, is 80 percent on field goals, including 48.4 percent from 50-plus, while Carlson, over the last three seasons, is 84.5 percent on field goals, including 59 percent from 50-plus. So, in a way, the Raiders are getting worse at the position. Not to mention, Carlson was one of the last few Oakland Raiders guys left, along with left tackle Kolton Miller and punter A.J. Cole.
Las Vegas Raiders News
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The Raiders nailed it with Nailor.
