Sean Richardson to the Raiders?

[Pugger]

Agent Brian Parker confirmed #Packers S Sean Richardson signed RFA tender for #Raiders. Wouldn’t offer up $, but source says 1-year, $2.55M on Tuesday. Evidently we have 5 days to match it. What say you guys?

[smuggler]

Tough call. I would think we'd let him go. No compensation, but I don't think he's worth that, as the 4th safety... Close because of special teams considerations...

[SkinBasket]

Keep him and toss Bush in the river. Somehow he'll float to Minnesota.

[Teamcheez1]

Keep him and toss Bush in the river. Somehow he'll float to Minnesota.

That's an interesting thought. If it came down to keeping Bush or Richardson, mainly for special teams play, who will TT keep? This may actually be part of the discussion.

[smuggler]

We haven't offered Bush a contract yet, so...

[MadScientist]

The biggest hurdle for TT is that the 2.55 M is basically fully guaranteed. Still there are holes elsewhere, and an extra 1M to not worry about an S / ST slot is probably worth it.

[smuggler]

Fully guaranteed is only an issue if they thought he might not make the roster, as all vet base salaries for the season become guaranteed on the first day of the season.

[Patler]

Interesting offer from the Raiders, if the $2.55M figure is correct. A second round tender from the Packers would have been just $2.36M. The fact they didn't up their tender enough to ensure compensation if they don't match an offer might be an indication that the Packers don't want to pay him anything more than the minimum tender they gave him.

[Carolina_Packer]

The fact that he's going into his fourth year and getting a minimum tender for an offer, shows you how the Packers project his value to the club, and his player grade. If the Raiders like him better than the Packers, more power to Sean for getting paid. Perhaps the Packers don't view him as very versatile. Some here were thinking he could be the Will in Nickel coverage. Perhaps they only view him as a strong safety, and are willing to save the money and find another college free agent or two.

[Patler]

The fact that he's going into his fourth year and getting a minimum tender for an offer, shows you how the Packers project his value to the club, and his player grade.

On the other hand, it might just be they didn't think anyone would pursue him because RFAs rarely get offers as it is, and he really hasn't played much to stir up interest in him. Why give him money you might not have to? They also gave Barclay the low tender, probably because he is coming off the injury, and not because he has little value to the team. When they tendered Barclay, Bulaga wasn't even signed yet.

[Guiness]

The fact that he's going into his fourth year and getting a minimum tender for an offer, shows you how the Packers project his value to the club, and his player grade. If the Raiders like him better than the Packers, more power to Sean for getting paid. Perhaps the Packers don't view him as very versatile. Some here were thinking he could be the Will in Nickel coverage. Perhaps they only view him as a strong safety, and are willing to save the money and find another college free agent or two.

Richardson is an interesting case - he's 4th year on paper only. After making the team, his hamstring held him out out of the lineup at the beginning of the season, then the neck injury that cut short his rookie season and held kept him out of the lineup for the first 10 games of his second season (plus no real offseason work). At best, you could say he's entering his 3rd season, and could argue it's his second.

I think what this amounts to is a smart money being spent by the Raiders, a team that needs to go a long way to be relevant and doesn't have a lot of important guys to resign, and that same amount doesn't make sense for the Packers who have to fit a multiple pro-bowlers into the budget. The Raider had a ton of cap space this year, did not drop a lot on big names in FA and have to spend to get to the floor. Overpaying a little on a 1 year contract for a guy who had great measureables, some injuries he seems to have recovered from and could yet become a starter is the right thing to do.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Interesting stat in GBPG: Richardson played the most snaps on special teams in 2014. Only Bush came close to his snaps.

[Patler]

Another interesting fact from GBPG: if the Packers match the Raiders offer, Richardon will have the 14th highest number on the team for 2015.

[red]

IMO, you're #3 or #4 safety and the special team guys (other then kickers and maybe punters) should all be minimum wage guys mostly on their first contracts

you DON't give those guys 2.5 million a year

[Striker]

IMO, you're #3 or #4 safety and the special team guys (other then kickers and maybe punters) should all be minimum wage guys mostly on their first contracts

you DON't give those guys 2.5 million a year


^^^

[Joemailman]

I think he's replaced Bush as the Packers ST ace. And he plays more on defense than Bush did. 2.5 million would only be half a million more than they paid Bush last year, and Richardson is a better player. I think he stays.

[SkinBasket]

IMO, you're #3 or #4 safety and the special team guys (other then kickers and maybe punters) should all be minimum wage guys mostly on their first contracts

you DON't give those guys 2.5 million a year

Gay. Sorry, I should say your opinion is gay. You might be straight. Hard to tell these days.

If he's the top ST player on the team and is a capable defender who's one injury away from being the starter at S, you pay him. You'll get more out of the rest of the ST players if they see they can be rewarded for treating ST as importantly as they would defense or offense. Also, if your entire special teams is comprised of minimum wage guys, you're going to get minimum wage performance, but it's not like ST blunders could cost a team a trip to the Super Bowl right? Also, these days $2.5 M isn't breaking the fucking bank. Also, it's "your" not "you're."

[pbmax]

Bob McGinn ‏@BobMcGinn 52m52 minutes ago
S Sean Richardson was in Green Bay for visit/physical Sunday. Could be sign #Packers will match #Raiders' RFA offer sheet by late Mon d-line

Also this by Silverstein: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/299512781.html

[smuggler]

He's a Packer. Offer was matched today.

[Striker]

Huh. Must be something they really like about him.

[HarveyWallbangers]

They underestimated the market and should have given him the other tender (sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't), but on a one year contract with plenty of money to spend I think it's a no brainer. I think he's a solid player. Hyde and Richardson give them depth at the position, but Hyde might be playing more at corner this year.

[pbmax]

Second round tender was $2,356,000. Didn't miss it by much. Just a gamble they could save $800,000. They lost and it cost them $200,000.

[red]

well on the plus side our #4 safety as just become our 3rd highest paid secondary player, and the 4th highest paid defensive player if you don't count OLB's

[smuggler]

Worth the money. If he gets a similar offer next year, Green Bay could see a 6th round comp out of it. $1mil for that at minimum is worth it.

[Guiness]

Raiders can't give their money away!

[HarveyWallbangers]

well on the plus side our #4 safety as just become our 3rd highest paid secondary player, and the 4th highest paid defensive player if you don't count OLB's

What does it matter? The other guys are on their rookie deals.

[Patler]

Second round tender was $2,356,000. Didn't miss it by much. Just a gamble they could save $800,000. They lost and it cost them $200,000.

They did the same with Barclay, minimum tender. I half expected that he would get an offer, not Richardson, because of adequate performance as a starter. I guess maybe Barclay's knee was a factor.

[Fritz]

It's good. He knows the system. Remember all the talk that Capers's system works best with vets. So the backup safety knows the system. And he's a special teams ace.

Maybe Jarrett Bush better start making some kind of workout video for housewives - "Up those stadium stairs, ladies. Harder!"- as he morphs into his new career.

[vince]

I'm a bit surprised at this. I thought he'd save the money for future needs. Ted certainly knows what he's doing though.

I think I underestimated Richardson's ST value and possibly the strictness with which Ted adheres to a team-wide pay heirarchy. As has been said it's a one-year deal - forced on them by league rules - so it's not a huge transgression. Plus Burnett's health history isn't the greatest. I thought Richardson would have been an upgrade at safety last year at this time (before the draft) so I can't complain about re-signing good players.

[Fritz]

Is Ted going to trot out some crazy long-in-the-tooth team this year?

[Patler]

According to the GBPG, since 2009, only one team has not matched an offer for a RFA. Teams do value experience.

[Fritz]

You haven't been reading Packerrats closely enough. Ted hates veterans, and does not care about stocking the defense.

[pbmax]

Is Ted going to trot out some crazy long-in-the-tooth team this year?

Might get over the 27 yo average yet.

[Guiness]

Have to wonder why the Raiders did this. If they wanted him, they had to know there was a good chance the offer they made was not enough to pry him away from GB, seems like it was a waste of their time.

[smuggler]

Maybe they figured Green Bay might not match. Nothing for Oakland to lose. And, a jab at the old boss to boot. :J