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Oakland Raiders: Signing Jermaine Gresham Now Would Be Smart

By Jonathan George

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The Oakland Raiders have bounced around quite a bit when it comes to signing and missing out on free agents in 2015. One of the positions they have yet to cash in on is the tight end position, a spot that the could use an infusion of talent at. Incumbent starter Mychal Rivera was fairly abysmal for Oakland in 2014; he was rated 66 out of 67 tight ends overall per Pro Football focus last year. It goes without saying that the Raiders can’t be excited about their current tight end battery.

The latest news for Oakland in terms of their tight end quandary is that they are in a wait and see mode with Jermaine Gresham due to his recent back surgery, per Scott Bair at CSNBayArea.com. The Raiders really liked Gresham before the news of his disk injury came out, and if he can rehab fairly quickly while completely recovering from the surgery there is a strong chance they still sign him.

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If the Raiders are set on grabbing Gresham once he completely heals, why not take a little bit of a gamble and sign him now? Sure, there is the chance he isn’t ready at the start of OTA’s, but those are voluntary and there is no guarantee he goes anyway.

The good news is that training camp is about four months away, and with a rehab timeline of 4-6 weeks, the likelihood of Gresham missing meaningful football practices is fairly small. And the injury, a bulging disk in his back, isn’t exactly a major injury in terms of NFL long term effects. If Gresham was coming back from an ACL or MCL, it would make more sense for the Raiders to wait.

If the Raiders signed him now, they could use his injury as an excuse to bring him in with a team friendly contract. That doesn’t mean they offer him a low ball figure, but they can structure a deal that protects them from Gresham getting re-injured quickly.

A decent base salary and a per game bonus that is fairly sizable gives Gresham the motivation to heal up completely before returning to the field. The total compensation could be similar to the number they were going to offer him anyway, but doing it now keeps other teams from swooping in and “stealing” him away, just like what happened to Oakland with some of the other free agent players they wanted.

Gresham would be a huge upgrade for Oakland. A two-time Pro Bowler in 2011 and 2012 for the Bengals, Gresham has good hands and is a fairly good run blocker. He was 30 spots higher in terms of overall player rating that Rivera per Pro Football Focus, and when you consider the fact that the Raiders still have a lot of cap space it wouldn’t be a huge gamble money-wise for them. Whether it is a 1 year “show me” type of deal, or a multi-year contract, there isn’t any real reason to wait for Gresham to be 100% before they try and sign him.

If Oakland waits too long, they could miss out on Gresham and be in the same spot they were last year; lacking quality talent at the tight end position going into training camp.

Next: Oakland Raiders Not Done Yet

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