The Las Vegas Raiders traded away Maxx Crosby last Friday, landing premium draft capital and freeing up loads of salary cap space, signaling that they were in a full-on rebuild. Replacing a player like Crosby is nearly impossible, but the Raiders have to try this offseason anway.
Although they were fairly quiet on this front for the first few hours of the legal tampering period on Monday, John Spytek and the front office finally got to work later in the afternoon. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the team signed former Indianapolis Colts defensive end Kwity Paye.
Paye will turn 28 years old in November, and he already has five years of NFL experience under his belt. He'll give Rob Leonard a seasoned edge rusher in his first year as a defensive coordinator, even if Paye isn't exactly an elite player.
Raiders sign former Colts DE Kwity Paye in free agency
Both Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady attended the University of Michigan, and those former Wolverines tend to have a brotherhood. It makes sense then that the Raiders gave Paye, who went to Michigan, a nice deal on the open market.
He played for Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, who employed Mike Macdonald for a year. John Harbaugh had also employed Macdonald for several years before he left for the Seattle Seahawks. A lot of connections exist between the Las Vegas duo of Leonard and Klint Kubiak and Macdonald.