Las Vegas Raiders show commitment to OL Andre James
How much did the Raiders commit to Andre James and why?
According to Ian Rapaport of the NFL Network, the Raiders signed James to a 3-year extension worth $12.5 million that includes a $6 million guaranteed. The exact terms of the contract have not yet been released but the amount is enough to ensure James will be the team’s starting center in 2021. You simply don’t pay a backup offensive lineman an average of $4 million a year.
At the end of his extension, James will be just 27 years old which is of course significantly younger than Rodney Hudson. James is also considerably cheaper than his talented predecessor as Hudson was due $9.9 million in 2021 and $10.8 million in 2022. The Raiders had one of the most expensive offensive lines in the NFL in 2019 and 2020 and the decision to offload high-paid players like Hudson, Trent Brown, and Gabe Jackson represents a philosophy shift.
Las Vegas was able to get replacement-level play from guys like Denzelle Good and John Simpson in 2020 and may have been frustrated with paying so much for an offensive line that was often hurt or ineffective. Las Vegas is now betting that they can get an adequate level of play from their rebuilt offensive line but at a discount and that starts with guys like Andre James.
There is very little tape out there of Andre James because he has played just 116 snaps on offense over 2 years in the NFL. The Raiders seem to believe in him as the center of the present and future and we will have to wait and see if he is up to the task.
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It may be a bitter pill to swallow that Las Vegas moved on from Rodney Hudson but this is the reality of the NFL, teams will always be looking to get younger, and more importantly cheaper, at every position. This time around, Andre James happens to be the beneficiary of that decision by the franchise.