Posted by Will BrinsonKamerion Wimbley was franchise-tagged by the Raiders before the lockout. But, it was only after the Raiders decided to franchise tag tight end Zach Miller, rescinded it, and then hit up Wimbley.
Given that Wimbley cost more than $10 million for just 2011 under that tag, this seemed like a weird move. Whatever, it won't matter because the Raiders have reportedly signed Wimbley to a five-year deal worth $48 million that also contains $29 million in guaranteed money, according to Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network.
Yes, that's a chunk of change, but the Raiders were bumped up on the salary cap and needed to loosen up some money -- restructuring Wimbley's deal does just that.
Wimbley will turn 28 in October, and he posted nine sacks last year, giving him 35 on his career. So, the deal's not bananas crazy or anything (unless you want to compare it to Nnamdi Asomugha, a former Raider, and what he got on the open market anyway!).
My beef with this whole shebang stems more with the fact that a) there's more value to the money spent on someone like Miller and his relative franchise-tag number, b) they could have signed Wimbley to this deal before the lockout and also tagged Miller, c) they probably could have done so without giving Wimbley as much leverage by telling him he's worth north of $10 million a year, and d) the whole Wimbley saga got started because someone in the Raiders' front office forgot how to do math.
Therefore, it seems only fair to criticize the deal a bit.
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