City Of Oakland News & Rumors

AFC West Notes: Raiders, Broncos, Marshall

February 12th, 2016 at 8:42pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Raiders will aim to bring in another running back this offseason, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Latavius Murray carried the load for Oakland last season, and while the the club’s rushing offense wasn’t great (24th in DVOA), Murray was one of only seven backs league-wide to run for more than 1,000 yards, and he did so behind an offensive line that ranked just 19th in adjusted line yards.

Still, Murray is entering the final year of his rookie deal, so adding another back could help not only during the 2016 season, but in the years after if Murray departs through free agency. The running back market is awash with options, with Matt Forte, Doug Martin, Lamar Miller, and Chris Ivory among those heading for free agency. Oakland has also been mentioned as a possible destination for the Eagles’ DeMarco Murray in the even that he is released or traded.

Let’s take a look at a few other notes from the AFC West, including more on both the Raiders and the Super Bowl champion Broncos:

“I would definitely love my bank account to grow in these next few months — I would love that,” said Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, discussing his upcoming restricted free agency on the NFL Network today. Marshall will certainly get a raise from the $585K he made last season, but he probably won’t hit the jackpot just yet, as Denver will likely offer him either a first- or second-round tender, limiting his appeal to other clubs.
Brock Osweiler‘s future with the Broncos obviously hinges on whether Peyton Manning retires (and if the club decides to retain him if he doesn’t), but after posting a 5-2 record during his seven starts last year, Osweiler is excited to at least have the chance to take over-full time. “Every single guy on this team embraced me, and that is something I think they all know how thankful I am for that,” Osweiler told Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post. “But this is the best team in the world and we have a very special group in our locker room.”
Speaking to the media in Oakland yesterday, Raiders owner Mark Davis said MLB’s Athletics (who share O.co Coliseum with the Raiders) have impeded progress on a new Raiders stadium by signing a 10-year lease with O.co. “They’ve tied our hands behind our back,” Davis said, according to Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. The Athletics responded toady, as owner Lew Wolff stated that his club is committed to Oakland, and that nothing the A’s have done affects the Raiders interests (link via Pro Football Talk).

Raiders Announce New O.Co Coliseum Deal

February 11th, 2016 at 5:28pm CST by Luke Adams

5:28pm: Davis called the deal a “win-win situation,” according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “It gives us an opportunity to work on a permanent facility here in Oakland,” Davis said. “It gives us some certainty for this season as well as flexibility for the next two seasons. . . . My heart is here in Oakland.”

Davis also hired real estate executive Larry MacNeil, per Smith, to assist in negotiations for a long-term stadium deal in Oakland. MacNeil previously aided the 49ers in their move into Levi’s Stadium

5:18pm: Options for 2017 and 2018 are part of this agreement, Bair reports (on Twitter). The Raiders have played on one-year options for the past two seasons. This furthers the team’s flexibility as it searches for a long-term stadium solution in the Bay Area and elsewhere.

5:13pm: The team announced the agreement, per Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. Bair notes the Raiders will pursue other options for their long-term future during this span. Sources told the Bay Area reporter the team will take an extensive look at San Diego if the Chargers decide to join the Rams in Los Angeles.

3:58pm: The Raiders will announce a new one-year agreement with O.co Coliseum today, Albert Breer of the NFL Network confirms (Twitter link).

2:00pm: The Raiders will make an announcement on the future of the franchise later this afternoon, according to a press release issued today (Twitter link via Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News). While it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, the team is expected to announce – at 3:00pm pacific time – that it has reached an agreement to extend its lease for at least one year at Oakland’s O.co Coliseum.

Once the Rams’ Inglewood stadium project was approved, with the Chargers getting first dibs to join Stan Kroenke‘s team in Los Angeles, it left the Raiders in limbo for the time being. The Raiders will get the opportunity to join the Rams in L.A. a year from now if Dean Spanos and the Chargers turn down that option and remain in San Diego. But for the short term, Mark Davis doesn’t have many viable options outside of renewing his lease with O.co Coliseum and remaining in Oakland for now.

We heard a couple weeks ago that the Raiders were discussing a short-term lease with O.co Coliseum and the city of Oakland. However, the club has also been exploring possible relocation options. Davis recently paid a visit to Las Vegas, where a plan for an NFL stadium has been proposed, and San Antonio is said to be courting the Raiders as well. If the Chargers end up relocating to Los Angeles in 2017, the Raiders also figure to consider San Diego as a potential long-term home.

Assuming today’s announcement isn’t a total shocker though, it appears the Raiders will spend at least one more season in Oakland. If the team reaches a short-term lease agreement with O.co Coliseum, that deal will likely feature an option year or two, notes Bonsignore (via Twitter). That would give the franchise some flexibility in 2017 and beyond as Davis considers all his options, and would lock in the price of rent for the short term.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Extra Points: Goodell, Raiders, Jags, London

February 5th, 2016 at 3:23pm CST by Luke Adams

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conducted his usual pre-Super Bowl press conference today, and even though he took questions from reporters for nearly 45 minutes, he didn’t provide many noteworthy updates. Goodell did drop the occasional interesting nugget, announcing that the Raiders and Texans will play in Mexico City on November 21, and revealing that he has recommended to the competition committee that a player who commits two person fouls in a game is automatically ejected.

When it came to questions about the NFL’s PSI study, stadium plans for San Diego and Oakland, potential changes to the league’s drug policy, and the NFL’s investigation into Al Jazeera’s HGH allegations, Goodell declined to get into specifics, offering only general answers. According to Goodell, the PSI checks didn’t turn up any violations, the NFL wants to keep the Chargers and Raiders where they are, the league doesn’t expect any marijuana-related policy changes, and the HGH-allegation investigation (in conjunction with WADA and other leagues) is ongoing.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL:

NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the union will reach a resolution with the NFL over a change in Goodell’s role in player discipline, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. The commissioner was characteristically evasive today when asked about that issue.
Smith also projected another $10MM boost for the league’s salary cap in 2016 (Twitter link via Stephen Holder of Indianapolis Star), and and singled out the Raiders and Jaguars as two teams that are well below the 89% cash spending floor. According to Smith (link via Barry Wilner of The Associated Press), Oakland is $41MM below the threshold and Jacksonville is $28MM below. Those teams could be active in free agency this offseason to get to the necessary level, but they don’t have to be in compliance until March 2017, so extensions next winter for 2014 draftees like Derek Carr and Khalil Mack (Raiders) or Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson (Jaguars) could do the trick.
Sheldon Adelson, the new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has installed Craig Moon as the paper’s publisher, and Moon’s early editorial decisions have had an impact on stories about Las Vegas’ proposed stadium, according to Politco’s Ken Doctor. With Adelson hoping to lure the Raiders or another NFL team to the proposed stadium, the Review-Journal has been forced to edit or kill stories about what could turn out to be a $600MM public investment.
The NFL came close, in recent weeks, to adding a fourth London game to its 2016 schedule, a source tells Albert Breer of the NFL Network (Twitter links). However, scheduling conflicts – not to mention the challenge of finding a fourth team willing to give up a home team – forced the league to put that plan on hold.

Raiders Expect To Play In Oakland In 2016

February 2nd, 2016 at 9:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Rams officially left St. Louis last month, but it appears the other two teams involved in Los Angeles talks will stay put for at least one more season. In the wake of the Chargers’ announcement that they’ll spend the 2016 season in San Diego, Raiders owner Mark Davis said he expects his club to remain in Oakland for 2016.

Barring a “dramatic breakdown” in negotiations with government officials, the Raiders will play the 2016 season in O.Co Coliseum, writes Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News. The franchise doesn’t currently have a lease to play in the Coliseum, but Davis expects to get a short-term solution worked out sometime soon, as he said on Kawakami’s podcast.

“As of today, right now, we are in the process of trying to negotiate a one-year extension at the Oakland Coliseum to play the 2016 season there,” Davis said. “After we get that done, we’ll sit down and try to figure out where the future of the Raiders lies.”

When the Chargers decided to try to make things work in San Diego, it likely shut the door on the Raiders’ only other potentially viable 2016 home. Although Davis and the Raiders have engaged in discussions with city leaders and potential investors in San Antonio and Las Vegas, those cities are considered potential long-term options for the Raiders, and were always unlikely to be ready immediately.

Ultimately, the Raiders’ most plausible long-term landing spots are probably in California, which means the franchise is unlikely to make any major decisions on its future until the Chargers make their decision. If Chargers owner Dean Spanos decides to keep his team in San Diego, there’s a very real chance Davis and the Raiders would join the Rams in Los Angeles. If Spanos heads to L.A., Davis would likely to take a long look at San Diego, as he confirmed to Kawakami.

“I think San Diego’s a phenomenal place,” Davis said. “For the Raiders, it would be great because we have a very large Hispanic market; we think that’s something we could tap into down there…. That’s just looking at it from a bird’s eye view. I don’t have any idea of what kind of negotiations Dean has going on there. I’m hoping he gets something done because I know that the fans there would love to keep them.”

Of course, Oakland is still a possibility for the Raiders, and Mayor Libby Schaaf has recently made comments about wanting to move forward on negotiations for a new stadium solution in the city. Bringing the team back to O.co Coliseum for 2016 is a good first step in the interim, but for the Raiders to have a realistic shot at remaining in Oakland for the long term, the team and the city will have to make significant progress in stadium talks, after the NFL ruled that the most recent proposal was not viable.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Community Tailgate: Where Will Raiders Play?

February 1st, 2016 at 12:47pm CST by Luke Adams

As the NFL offseason nears, there are plenty of topics and storylines to discuss, and PFR’s Community Tailgate is designed to address those stories. What’s the Community Tailgate all about? Well, it’s pretty simple. We’ll highlight one of the top stories going on in the NFL. Then, in the comment section below, we want you to weigh in and let us know what you think.

Of course, while the debate may get spirited, we ask that it all stays respectful. If you need a reminder of our rules, please check out our commenting policy. Basically, we ask that you refrain from inappropriate language, personal insults, and attacks. Speaking of commenting: we’ve made it much easier to leave a comment here at Pro Football Rumors. You are no longer required to be a registered user – simply put in your name, email address, and comment and submit.

As we enter February, two of the three NFL franchises that faced major uncertainty last month have some sort of resolution for at least the short term. The Rams are heading to Los Angeles immediately and will play at the Coliseum until their brand-new Inglewood stadium is ready in a few years. The Chargers will play the 2016 season in San Diego before making a final decision on their long-term future.

The only team without any short-term certainty is the Raiders, who appear likely to return to Oakland for at least one more year, but don’t have an agreement in place to play at O.co Coliseum at this point. The stadium, which the Raiders share with MLB’s Oakland Athletics, isn’t exactly the NFL’s most impressive venue, but it’s fine as an interim home, and I expect the Raiders to play there in 2016 while the franchise considers its long-term options.

Owner Mark Davis is in the process of considering those options as we speak — Davis paid a visit to Las Vegas last Friday to meet with a group of investors proposing to build a $1 billion domed stadium near UNLV. Additionally, ideas such as the Raiders building an NFL stadium in San Antonio or sharing Levi’s Stadium with the 49ers have resurfaced in recent weeks as the Raiders mull their next move.

Of course, there are as many cons as pros for most of the Raiders’ potential homes. There’s major skepticism that the NFL would allow a team to relocate to Las Vegas, America’s gambling capital, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Texans owner Bob McNair would likely push hard to keep the Raiders out of Texas. As for sharing a stadium with the Niners, Davis has shown no interest in such a partnership.

Los Angeles is a possibility for the Raiders, but only if the Chargers ultimately decide to pass on a partnership with the Rams, and Davis would still have to reach his own agreement with Stan Kroenke in that scenario. If the Chargers head to L.A. in 2017, San Diego could be in play for the Raiders, though there’s some uncertainty about how the NFL and Chargers owner Dean Spanos would feel about that possibility.

London and Toronto have frequently been cited as potential homes for NFL franchises as well, though there’s no indication that Davis has explored international options yet. St. Louis, having just lost the Rams, would appear on the surface to be a logical match, but Davis has said he’s not considering St. Louis, and mayor Francis Slay doesn’t appear interested in pursing another team.

Oakland may be the best home for the Raiders in both the short- and long-term — Mayor Libby Schaaf expressed optimism for that outcome during an appearance on KTVU on Sunday night, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk details.

According to Florio, Schaaf hopes to secure a renewal of the Raiders’ lease at O.co Coliseum and then move on to negotiations on a “permanent, beautiful home for those Raiders.” That’s easier said than done though, and so far none of the discussions between the Raiders and the city of Oakland have resulted in any sort of viable stadium plan. It’s not clear whether the NFL committing an extra $100MM to the project will change that.

What do you think? Should the Raiders do everything they can to make it work in Oakland, or is there another city that makes more sense for them? Where do you think the Raiders will ultimately end up, and where do you think they should end up?