Oakland Raiders: The Good and The Bad of Each Free Agent Signing

The good and the bad of each free agent acquisition made so far by Reggie McKenzie and the Oakland Raiders.

The Oakland Raiders have signed five free agents thus far — Marshall Newhouse, Cordarrelle Patterson, Jared Cook, E.J. Manuel and Jelani Jenkins — and most of the signings have received positive reviews amongst the fan base.

Each of the free agent acquisitions brings something to the table — some more than others — and each free agent has their drawbacks.

Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of each addition made by Reggie McKenzie so far.

Jelani Jenkins

With Malcolm Smith on the way out and Perry Riley Jr. as an unrestricted free agent, the linebacker position might be the most barren of any position on the entire roster.

Most of Raider Nation had hoped for Dont’a Hightower, A.J. Klein, Kevin Minter or Zach Brown to join the team, but only Brown remains an option. What McKenzie has done so far instead is add one low-profile linebacker — Jelani Jenkins — via a one-year deal worth $1M, with just $100,000 guaranteed.

The Good

Jenkins was a fourth-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2013, following an underwhelming career at the University of Florida. Prior to that, he was a five-star recruit that was widely considered a top ten prospect regardless of position and the number one overall linebacker.

The focus here is on his talent level. As a former five-star recruit, the hope is that the Raiders can tap into that talent and get more out of Jenkins than the Dolphins were able to.

With “Pro Bowl level” talent, signing him to a modest one-year deal worth a maximum of $1 million is a low risk, moderate reward decision. Jenkins just turned 25 years old earlier in March, so there is still plenty of time for him to live up to his previously high expectations.

In 2014, he actually began to live up to those expectations. He totaled 110 tackles with 3.5 sacks to boot, and he also forced 2 fumbles. He has struggled with injury since then, but on the field, he’s proven that he can play in this league at a fairly high level.

So it’s reasonable to think that Jenkins can, at the very least, provide needed depth and quality special teams play, with the best case scenario being that he stays healthy and has a repeat of that impressive 2014 season. Or hopefully even better.

The Bad

Most of the “bad” with Jenkins revolves around his health. In 2016, Jenkins missed six games due to injury, and he was questionable or doubtful to play in the other ten. You read that right — in 2016, Jenkins either did not play or was on the injury report for every single game during the year.

In 2015, Jelani missed three games, and he was listed with some sort of injury for seven others. The two years before that weren’t much better.

Counting all four of his seasons so far in the NFL, Jenkins has missed a total of 11 games and has been on the injury report as questionable, doubtful or probable for 32 others.

So that’s a total of 43 games where he was either out or listed with some type of injury out of a possible 64 games. That is taking “banged up” to another level.

On the field, he hasn’t shown the consistency many hoped to see from him coming out of college, but it’s hard to do that if you are dealing with an injury in 67 percent of your games.

The training staff might be working overtime to keep Jelani healthy, but with his low-dollar contract, the reward is certainly worth the risk.