On the first business day after Richie Incognito‘s suspension was announced, the Raiders moved to add some guard depth and perhaps a stopgap starter. They agreed to terms with Jonathan Cooper, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The former first-round pick did not come close to living up to his lofty draft slot and was a pre-Week 1 release last year, despite inking a mid-level 49ers deal. But Cooper has started 31 games since being drafted No. 7 overall in 2013 and stands to supply the Raiders with another option at left guard.
Incognito will miss the first two games of this season. Denzelle Good resided as the Raiders’ previous left guard starter. He now figures to compete with Cooper for that role in Weeks 1-2.
Cooper, 29, was a 13-game Cowboys starter in 2017, leading to the 49ers guaranteeing him $4MM last year. They opted to go with Mike Person over Cooper in their starting lineup. Cooper resurfaced with the Redskins late last season; he started four games with Washington.
The Raiders waived wide receiver Montay Crockett to make room for Cooper on their 90-man roster.