6:01pm: Smith signed his Raiders contract, according to the team’s official Twitter account.
6:52am: The contract agreed to by Smith and the Raiders is worth $40MM over four years, with $20MM in guarantees, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter).
6:42am: The Raiders are set to make their third major free agent splash of the week, according to Rand Getlin of the NFL Network, who reports (via Twitter) that cornerback Sean Smith has agreed to terms with the club. If and when the two sides make it official, Smith will be leaving the Chiefs to join one of Kansas City’s division rivals.
[RELATED: Raiders agree to sign Bruce Irvin]
For the Raiders, Smith is the third free agent ranked inside our top 10 who has agreed to terms this week with the team. Oakland has also struck deals with offensive lineman Kelechi Osemele and outside linebacker Bruce Irvin, as the club takes advantage of its massive amount of cap room.
Smith, 28, spent the first four seasons of his NFL career in Miami before playing the last three seasons for the Chiefs. Although he’ll only be entering his age-29 season, the former second-round pick already has 100 career starts to his name, and he has been a steady presence in Kansas City in recent years. In 2015, Pro Football Focus ranked him 12th out of 111 qualified cornerbacks, placing him right behind standouts like Chris Harris, Stephon Gilmore, and the recently franchised Josh Norman.
[RELATED: Raiders, Kelechi Osemele reach agreement]
Entering free agency, PFR ranked Smith as the ninth-best player available on the open market. Among cornerbacks, only Janoris Jenkins (fourth) ranked higher, and the Rams corner has since agreed to a five-year, $62.5MM contract with the Giants, setting the market for Smith. Since Jenkins is a little younger than Smith, the former Chief may not land quite as lucrative a contract, but he’s expected to do very well.
The 49ers were also believed to be in the running for Smith, with the Chiefs reportedly making a push to re-sign him on Tuesday night. However, the Raiders were frequently cited as perhaps the most aggressive suitor for the free agent corner, and it looks like they’re on the verge of officially adding him to their roster.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Raiders flipping franchise over to a new era with irvin and smith both grabbed in this offseason
Damn I am so happy right now! Been up all night worried of we were gonna get our guy! Thank you to the raiders organization and thank you reggie for making these key moves! We hit 3 huge free agents! Osemele, Irvin, and smith damn I am so pumped up right now and it’s loke 5 in the morning on the west coast don’t need no coffee this morning! lol JUST WIN BABY!
Raiders management has hit a home run this off season and their not done. Sign Penn back, sign a veteran safety (weddle), draft depth and take our chances in an AFC west division that we should control for years to come. Every team in the division has gotten weaker as the raiders have gotten stronger.
Hard to re-sign your guys if teams are going to just over-pay like the Raiders and Jags lol. They’ll have issues with keeping their top picks when they come up in FA though in 2-3 years.
With Jenkins going to the Giants at a premium along with the fact that Smith was the consensus #2 CB available, not sure it was just the Jags and Raiders cap room and willingness to overpay that set this market.