Oakland Raiders claim the most overrated free agent of 2019

The Oakland Raiders have become a confusing franchise lately. Then again this actually isn’t anything new. Only the guys in charge are different.

Everything about their moves in 2018 said that they were going to tear everything down and start from scratch. They traded Khalil Mack for a large package of draft picks from Chicago. Then they traded Amari Cooper to Dallas for a 1st rounder. It looked like this team was embracing a full rebuild and aiming to be competitive again right as they made the anticipated move to Las Vegas.

Then the 2019 offseason arrived and that apparent clarity in direction went out the window. They traded for veteran receiver Antonio Brown and then handed him a lucrative contract extension. An unusual move for a team that looked to be in rebuilding mode. It didn’t stop there though. They also offered a huge new contract to free agent offensive tackle Trent Brown worth upwards of $66 million across four years.

It was a blockbuster move and one that Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus and ESPN calls the most overrated deal of the free agency period.

"“Brown got the biggest contract for a tackle in NFL history, but our metrics suggest he’s not even a top-10 tackle in the league right now. He allowed 35 pressures last season, even with Tom Brady’s quick release, ranking him 18th among the 26 tackles who played more than 1,000 snaps. Brown is an upgrade for Oakland, where rookie Kolton Miller’s 65 pressures allowed were second worst in the league, but the cost for the 6-foot-8 tackle was far too much.”"

Oakland Raiders move on Brown felt like a move to cover up another mistake

Often with moves like this, it feels less like a teams’ true feeling that the player is worth the money and more like an aggressive attempt to cover up a mistake. In this case, the Raiders’ previous decision to draft Kolton Miller in the 1st round last year. It was puzzling even then. While the UCLA tackle was a great athlete for his size and blew up the combine, nothing about his tape said he should’ve gone that high. There were too many concerns.

Sure enough, Derek Carr ended up paying the price for that negligence. Thus the Raiders moved to fix their error by shifting Miller to right tackle and getting the best left tackle on the market, whatever the cost. Brown was it and reaped the rewards. Yet just because he was the best available doesn’t mean he’s worth the price paid.

Keep in mind Brown had the best offensive line coach there is working with him in Dante Scarnecchia. Not even that was enough to iron out some of his persistent issues, especially in pass protection. It’s hard to imagine Gruden and his staff can do any better with him.