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Denzelle Good

Raiders Announce G Denzelle Good’s Retirement

July 25th, 2022 at 9:52pm CST by Ely Allen

JULY 25: Two days after agreeing to rework the final year of his contract, Raiders offensive guard Denzelle Good has seemingly retired. No announcement has been officially made by Good, but the team tweeted today that he was being moved to the reserve/retired list.

Good agreed to take a lower salary in the deal reached this weekend, but the $425,000 available in potential incentives certainly didn’t point to an upcoming retirement. Perhaps in the next few days more information will accompany the move to help make sense of the order of actions here.

The departure of Good adds another question to an offensive line that is already chock-full of them. Recent reports had listed Good as one of two offensive linemen, alongside Kolton Miller, who were solidly expected to start, with the remaining three spots up in the air. Andre James is a good bet to continue starting at center after a successful season at the position last year. John Simpson is currently the favorite at left guard, but reports indicate that rookie third-round pick Dylan Parham could push both James and Simpson for a starting job at their positions.

The right side was expected to be Good at guard with Brandon Parker and Alex Leatherwood battling for the right tackle position. Lester Cotton was the first player listed beneath Good on the depth chart, but a likelier scenario sees Leatherwood concede the tackle spot to Parker and man the guard position. Leatherwood filled in when Good missed every game but one last season after tearing his ACL. Parker replaced Leatherwood as the starting tackle in that scenario, and it seems an easy fix to just put the two back to where they were at last year.

Regardless, of the possibilities, this news is a bit of a gut-check for an offensive line that already had questions to answer for the 2022 NFL season. It will certainly be an interesting position group to keep an eye on this summer at training camp.

JULY 23: Guard Denzelle Good is coming off a year that saw him miss every remaining game after tearing his ACL in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season. Now, as he was scheduled to head into the last year of his contract, Good has agreed to a reworked contract for this season with the Raiders, according to Field Yates of ESPN. 

In the second and final year of the two-year deal he signed before last season, Good was scheduled to have a base salary of $3.09MM. In the new one-year contract meant to replace that final year, Las Vegas is set to pay Good a base salary of almost $1.04MM with a possible $425,000 available in incentives. The reduced salary is likely a reflection of his injury and could be an influence on future discussions once this contract year is over.

Before missing almost all of last year, Good had solidified his role as one of the team’s starting guards, starting 14 of the 15 games he appeared in during the 2020 season. Before that Good had been an intermittent starter since the Colts selected him in the seventh round in 2015. Despite recovering from his injury, Good is one of two players on the Raiders’ offensive line that is assumed to have a starting role locked down.

Good has been medically cleared and will be a participant when Las Vegas starts training camp on Thursday. He’ll look to have a bounce back year and show he’s fully recovered as he heads towards free agency.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/25/22

July 25th, 2022 at 9:09pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s minor roster moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Raiders Rumors: Offensive Line, WRs, Jacobs

July 18th, 2022 at 6:09pm CST by Ely Allen

We recently wrote about the unlikelihood that any rookies will be starting for the Raiders to start the 2022 NFL season. The player we gave the best odds of earning a starting role is maybe even better set up for taking the job than we thought, according to Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed at The Athletic. The two reported that, besides left tackle Kolton Miller and right guard Denzelle Good, the other three offensive line jobs are up for grabs.

We had given Andre James the assumption of starting at center after a successful season at the position last year. We also didn’t grant Good an automatic spot as he is recovering from a torn ACL that held him out for all but 18 snaps of last season. But Tafur and Reed assert that rookie third-round pick Dylan Parham “could push John Simpson at left guard and (James) at center.”

They also believe that Alex Leatherwood doesn’t quite have the right tackle job in the bag. He’s being pushed by Brandon Parker, who started 13 games at the position last year, while Leatherwood occupied a guard spot.

Here are a few more rumors from Sin City:

  • The addition of star wide receiver Davante Adams provides an obvious No. 1 weapon for quarterback Derek Carr. Carr will have Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller to target in the slot and at tight end, respectively, but who will be out wide opposite Adams? That role will be a battle between free agent additions Mack Hollins, Keelan Cole, and Demarcus Robinson. According to Tafur and Reed, the former Dolphins wide receiver, Hollins, should be considered the favorite. Though he hasn’t quite shown the necessary production (his best season came last year with 14 catches for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns), Hollins has a large, 6’4″ frame and speed that can make him an effective weapon while defenses focus on Adams, Waller, and Renfrow. Cole has shown more consistent production during tenures in Jacksonville and New York, as has Robinson in Kansas City, but neither quite has the physical tools that Hollins displays. If Hollins can take the next step and make the most of his abilities, Cole and Robinson can be strong assets off the bench behind a starting three of Adams, Renfrow, and Hollins.
  • Las Vegas didn’t pick up the fifth-year option on running back Josh Jacobs rookie contract this offseason as a result of some of the injury trouble he’s experienced in the NFL. In total, Jacobs has only missed six games throughout his three years of play, but his struggle to stay healthy has limited him in many other games. Due to health, Tafur and Reed see this as Jacobs’ last year on the team. Their opinion is also backed by the draft addition of Georgia running back Zamir White, once considered the top recruit at his position in high school. While the team won’t put too much on White as a rookie, The Athletic guesses that the Raiders will utilize a running back by committee approach. Vegas will lean on Jacobs to lead, as the most talented, while attempting to bring White along and up to NFL-speed. Career third-down back Brandon Bolden and backup Kenyan Drake will continue their usual roles as the Raiders allegedly groom White to start.

Latest On Raiders’ O-Line Situation

July 3rd, 2022 at 12:02pm CST by Rory Parks

Third-round rookie Dylan Parham represents the only major addition the Raiders have made to their offensive line this offseason, which makes one wonder if the unit will allow the team’s offense — which features a quality quarterback in Derek Carr and several high-end skill position talents in tight end Darren Waller and trade acquisition Davante Adams — to live up to its potential. Indeed, Carr was sacked 40 times in 2021, and Las Vegas’ 95.1 rushing yards per game was a bottom-five figure, even though the offense as a whole ranked 11th in total yardage.

In fairness, the OL suffered several key injuries last year, and in the estimation of Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com, there are two major potential developments that will help the Raiders’ blockers perform at a “workable” level: the return of Denzelle Good to the right guard spot, and 2021 first-rounder Alex Leatherwood seizing the right tackle role.

In May, we learned that Las Vegas’ new regime was giving Leatherwood reps at RT during spring practices, and as Guiterrez recently wrote in a separate piece, head coach Josh McDaniels said Leatherwood would be given every opportunity to win the job. In his rookie season, the Alabama product — who was generally not viewed as a Day 1 talent leading up to the draft — was moved to right guard due largely to his struggles on the edge. It may be a bit much to expect him to become even a league-average starter in his sophomore year, but it seems the Raiders believe that can happen.

Good, meanwhile, was one of the above-referenced O-linemen to sustain a major injury in 2021, as he tore his ACL in the regular season opener. That shut him down for the remainder of the campaign, but even at full strength, he has not been a world-beater. The 2015 seventh-round pick of the Colts was waived midway through the final year of his rookie contract and was subsequently claimed by the Raiders. He started just five games in 2019, his first full year with the Silver-and-Black, but the club re-signed him the following offseason, and he wound up starting 14 contests in 2020. Although Pro Football Focus assigned him a middling 56.7 grade that year — good for 56th out of 80 qualified players — the Raiders authorized a two-year, $8.36MM re-up last March.

At present, Gutierrez projects a starting five of LT Kolton Miller, LG Parham, C Andre James, RG Good, and RT Leatherwood. He acknowledges that alignment is not especially exciting, but healthy and passable showings from the right side of that line could still be enough to elevate the offense to a top-five outfit given the rest of the talent on the roster.

AFC Notes: Raiders, Chiefs, Dupree, Weddle

February 19th, 2022 at 10:52pm CST by Ely Allen

First-round draft pick Alex Leatherwood had an up-and-down rookie season in Las Vegas. After struggling a bit at right tackle, Leatherwood was moved to guard to fill in after injuries to starters Richie Incognito and Denzelle Good. According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders’ former staff intended to move Leatherwood back to his drafted position next season.

The decision is now out of their hands and in the hands of new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo. With Kolton Miller set at left tackle and Andre James filling in admirably this season with the loss of center Rodney Hudson in a trade to the Cardinals last year, the Raiders have three offensive line spots with which to play around. Bricillo’s placement of Leatherwood will likely depend on how they choose to address those open positions.

Here are a few more notes from around the AFC, starting with another note from the West:

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/15/21

September 15th, 2021 at 5:07pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor NFL transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans

Raiders G Denzelle Good Tears ACL

September 14th, 2021 at 4:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders came out of their nationally televised opener 1-0 but are down at least one key player for the season. Denzelle Good suffered a torn ACL, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (on Twitter).

Good spent most of last season as a starting guard for the Raiders, and the team used the veteran blocker as a starter Monday. Good was set to start opposite Richie Incognito, having won Las Vegas’ right guard gig. Incognito missed Monday’s game due to injury, thrusting second-year guard John Simpson into the starting lineup opposite Good. It would appear Simpson will stick in that role.

Good, 30, went down on the Raiders’ first drive. They moved recent addition Jermaine Eluemunor into the lineup opposite Simpson. The Raiders re-signed Good this offseason, giving him a two-year commitment at $4.18MM on average.

A former Colts draftee, Good hovered as a depth option between the 2016 and ’20 seasons. After spending the ’16 season as a primary Indianapolis starter, Good served as a backup in Indy and Oakland. However, the Raiders kept blocker around since claiming him off waivers late in the 2018 season. They were forced to use him as a regular following Incognito’s September 2020 injury. They will now hope Incognito can return from his latest injury soon.

Jon Gruden expressed concern Good, Yannick Ngakoue, Marcus Mariota and Gerald McCoy suffered serious injuries. It is not known if that is the case for the latter trio, though Good’s prognosis provides an ominous sign here. McCoy was carted off the field Monday night.

OL Rumors: Raiders, 49ers, Giants, Solder, Eagles

July 7th, 2021 at 3:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders are tracking to have two starters from their 2020 Week 1 offensive line setup back, with Kolton Miller signed long-term and Richie Incognito back on a lower-cost deal. But spillover from another training camp battle may affect Incognito’s standing. Denzelle Good and John Simpson will vie for the starting right guard spot, but Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed of The Athletic note Raiders coaches have informed the team’s guards the loser of this competition may still wind up replacing Incognito at left guard (subscription required). Incognito, 38, played well in 2019 but missed 14 games due to an Achilles injury last season. The Raiders cut him in March but re-signed him weeks later on a one-year, $2.12MM deal. Good replaced Incognito last year, and the Raiders are hoping Simpson — a 2020 fourth-round pick out of Clemson — can win the right guard competition.

Here is more on the Raiders’ O-line and the latest from some other offensive fronts around the league:

  • Elsewhere on Las Vegas’ O-line, the center spot may not be much of a competition. Despite offseason addition Nick Martin having started four full seasons with the Texans, the former second-round pick appears to be clearly behind former UDFA Andre James, according to The Athletic. After trading Pro Bowl center Rodney Hudson to the Cardinals, the Raiders gave James an extension. James has played 116 offensive snaps as a pro; all came in 2019.
  • Nate Solder has moved to the Giants‘ roster bubble, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. The 6-foot-8 veteran worked as New York’s starting left tackle in 2018 and ’19, after signing a then-record tackle contract in free agency, but opted out in 2020. The Giants can spread out Solder’s cap hit over multiple years, but they would face a $13.5MM cumulative dead-money charge by cutting Solder. Andrew Thomas has taken over as New York’s left tackle, with Raanan adding that Solder will compete with second-year blocker Matt Peart for the right tackle job. Solder has not been a full-time right tackle since his rookie season in 2011.
  • Although former UDFA Daniel Brunskill provided some stability amid 49ers injury chaos last season, starting 16 games, the team plans to return him to a utility role. The 49ers are eyeing second-round pick Aaron Banks as their starting right guard, Matt Barrows and David Lombardi of The Athletic note. Brunskill worked as a swing backup as a rookie in 2019, primarily filling in for left tackle Joe Staley. The 49ers selected Banks 48th overall; the 325-pound rookie started in part of his sophomore season and throughout his junior and senior years at Notre Dame.
  • Rather than stockpile depth at tackle, the Eagles may look to trade the loser of the Andre Dillard–Jordan Mailata left tackle competition, Eliot Shorr-Parks writes. While keeping both would provide insurance, Shorr-Parks notes moving Mailata in a contract year would make sense and Dillard may lose more value if he goes through this season as a backup. A 2019 first-round pick, Dillard missed all of last season due to injury and has logged just four career starts. A rugby convert chosen as a project in the 2018 seventh round, Mailata spent two full seasons in development but broke into Philadelphia’s starting lineup for 10 games last season.

Raiders To Re-Sign Denzelle Good

March 17th, 2021 at 2:16pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Raiders are the busiest team so far on Wednesday move. They’re re-signing another one of their own guys, this time locking up offensive lineman Denzelle Good, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.

It’s a two-year deal for Good, Fowler reports. The deal is worth $8.36MM, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Good will see $3.19MM in guarantees.

Good signed a one-year deal with the Raiders for $1.7MM in 2019. Then he signed a one-year deal for $2.3MM last offseason. After becoming essentially a full-time starter for Las Vegas this past year, he finally gets the multi-year deal. A seventh-round pick of the Colts in 2015, Good spent his first three-plus seasons in Indy.

He started at least a handful of games each season, but was cut by the Colts late in 2018 and promptly claimed off waivers by the Raiders. He started five games in 2019, but started 14 this past year after Richie Incognito missed most of the season. Las Vegas has done a ton of shuffling to their offensive line this month. Of the Raiders’ Week 1 starting O-line from last season, only Kolton Miller remains with the team

Las Vegas has already cut guards Gabe Jackson and Richie Incognito and traded tackle Trent Brown to New England. Incognito is apparently still a candidate to return, but it sounds like the team views Good as one of their starters for 2021.

Richie Incognito Won’t Return This Season

November 23rd, 2020 at 5:55pm CST by Ben Levine

Richie Incognito is done for the year. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden revealed today that the offensive lineman underwent “season-ending foot surgery” (per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez).

Incognito landed on IR in late September after suffering an Achilles injury. The veteran avoided a tear, so there was some optimism he’d return to the lineup once his stay on the IR ended. Instead, the 37-year-old decided to go under the knife.

“I hate to admit that, but we’ve tried everything we can,” Gruden said. “Richie’s tried everything he can to get back on the field. His season is over.”

The Raiders took a risk on the polarizing Incognito last offseason, and Incognito’s impressive performance ultimately earned him a two-year $14MM extension. As Gutierrez points out, the organization has only seen three snaps from their pricey offensive line grouping (which also includes Kolton Miller, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson, and Trent Brown).

Fortunately, the Raiders have received solid production from Incognito’s backup, Denzelle Good. Gruden referred to the former seventh-rounder as the team’s “unsung hero,” while quarterback Derek Carr declared him the team MVP (per Gutierrez).

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