This offseason the Raiders have been busy locking up their own players on extensions and adding other players on long term deals. But a closer look at the deals they’ve made reveals a specific timeline.
The first deal the Raiders made was the one they gave Davante Adams after acquiring him in trade from the Packers.
That deal initially had everyone freaking out about how big it was. A five-year, $140 million deal. But it’s really at most a three-year deal. At signing, only one year is fully guaranteed. The next two years are guaranteed if he’s still on the roster come March. After the third year of his deal, he has no guaranteed money and his cap hit jumps to over $40 million. In other words, he will never see that money.
The way Adams’s contract maps out is nearly identical to that of his quarterback.
Derek Carr’s deal is only fully guaranteed for this season. And if he’s on the roster on the third day of the 2023 league year (three days after the Super Bowl) his salary for 2023 and a portion of his contract for 2024 will be guaranteed as well. So, once again, a three-year deal.
Even Maxx Crosby’s deal is on a three-year plan. Same as Carr and Adams where his salary for the 2023 and 2024 seasons will have guarantees that kick in if he’s on the roster come next March.
Another of Carr’s targets got a new deal this offseason. Hunter Renfrow signed an extension. His deal is more straightforward. It’s simply a two-year extension for a total of three years.
Likewise Chandler Jones signed a three-year deal. Additionally, Kolton Miller and Daniel Carlson will have no more guaranteed money on their contracts following the 2023 season.
The one man still looking for a contract is Darren Waller. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal they give him, but I’d bet his contract that it will have no guaranteed money past 2024.
Let’s be clear here, that this is not to say the Raiders are headed for blowing up the team in three years. If all goes well, many of these guys will get new deals after their guarantees are up. But if all does *not* go as hoped, they will have put themselves in position to go back to the drawing board and start building toward another window.
