The Raiders are doing some early spring cleaning today. The club has released veteran wideout Jordy Nelson, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic (via Twitter).
The release itself isn’t that surprising after the club traded for Antonio Brown and signed top free agent wideout Tyrell Williams, but the circumstances surrounding it are a bit odd. At the end of December, head coach Jon Gruden announced that Nelson would be back in 2019 to finish out the two-year pact he signed last offseason, and they even moved up a $3.6MM roster bonus to be paid at the time of the announcement. Essentially, then, the Raiders gave Nelson $3.6MM for no real reason.
Of course, they did not know at the time that they would be adding two top wideouts to their club, and they still create some cap savings with the move. And, as Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tweets, the door is not closed on a Nelson return.
Nelson, though, may find a better opportunity on the free agent market. Even though he will turn 34 in May, he showed he still has a little something left in the tank in 2018, bumping his yards-per-catch average from a career-low 9.1 (in the largely Aaron Rodgers-less ’17 Packers slate) to 12.2 with Derek Carr.
He ended the 2018 season with 63 catches for 739 yards and three scores, and he played particularly well down the stretch.
Patriots
Raiders.
Packers
Angels
Rakuten Golden Eagles
Nippon Ham Fighters
Jamaican Bobsled Team
London Silly Nannies
Odessa Permian Panthers
Packers ruined that relationship. He’s not going back.
Ravens
Wish somebody would just give me 3.6MM for no reason. Way to go Jordy!
Haha
Damn hope Steelers jump on that
Come to KC, Jordy; you would be an asset in our offense as the 3rd receiver.
Bills!!!
They had no idea they would get ab for practically free and were gonna roll with jordy at this point i would have still kept him and had him in the slot to go over the middle since he doesnt have the wheels anymore he still is a reliable reciever and willing to take hits.
Yeah I’m confused…I thought his contract made more sense to keep than Seth Roberts’. What are we missing here?
Parrots or back to Packers
Parrots? What league are they in? South American?
Caribbean
Colts could use him
Welcome back to GB!
Nice severance package.
Come to New England!
Retire! He enjoyed a great career, time to move on. Healthy ‘golden parachute’ by the Raiders.
Why retire? Who are you to say it’s time to move on? Absolutely ridiculous comment.
If he wanted to retire he would have, no one but him can decide when his mind and/or body are done.
Tampa Bay
Not likely. Evans, Godwin, Breshad Perriman, Justin Watson, Bobo Wilson likely in the slot. <~ He’s always had great chemistry with Jaboo… I just don’t see any room for Jordy in that group.
Him n Brady holy crap that could be insane, but it depends on what he wants for a paycheck pats never over pay and why they’ve been so silent so far this offseason.
Da Bears
No way he would go to a hated rival and even if he could help us I would lose respect for him.
Hey let’s pay for someone we are going to cut. Trade away all of our young studs, then waste draft picks on 30 year old locker room cancers. Heck yes we know what we are doing. Just 9 more years and $90million to go.
If it makes you feel any better, it’s 8 years, 43 weeks and $88m 😀
Patriots will sign him, then release him before the pre-season games start. They do it every year. (See Nate Burleson, Eric Decker, Jordan Matthews, etc..)
I’m pretty sure Decker couldn’t figure out the playbook. Plus, he dropped a crap ton of passes.
Cowboys