Less than a week after the Bengals cut Preston Brown, the veteran linebacker has a new team. The Raiders will sign Brown, Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. It’s a one-year deal for Brown, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
To make room on their roster, the Raiders will place return man Dwayne Harris on IR, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic (on Twitter). Harris has missed most of this season, playing only three games. The former Cowboys and Giants specialist has missed the past three Oakland games with an ankle injury.
A sixth-year vet, Brown has started 77 of the 80 games in which he’s played in the NFL. He started 15 games for the Bengals over the past two years. Although Brown spent time in Cincinnati, his and Raiders DC Paul Guenther‘s Bengals tenures did not overlap. Another opportunity will nonetheless emerge for Brown, a third-round pick in 2014.
The Bengals gave Brown one-year deals in 2018 and ’19, doing so after Brown spent most of his four-year Bills career as a starting inside linebacker. Coming after a Saturday workout, Brown’s agreement continues the Raiders’ investments in veteran off-ball ‘backers. They have signed Vontaze Burfict, Brandon Marshall (twice) and Will Compton this year. Compton has played just 17 defensive snaps this season; the Raiders have primarily used Tahir Whitehead and Nicholas Morrow at linebacker since Burfict’s suspension.
Oakland added Harris last year, which ended up including an unusual 99-yard punt-return touchdown against Denver. This will end his age-32 season.