The Oakland Raiders have made quite a habit of signing players on Friday. General manager Reggie McKenzie kept it up by inking running back Maurice Jones-Drew to a three-year deal, according to Scott Bair of CSN Bay Area.
Jones-Drew is 29 and coming off the worst season of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the Raiders still brought him in to compete for the starting job. It worked for the Raiders last season when—after a bad year in Jacksonville—Rashad Jennings wrestled away the starting job from Darren McFadden.
The signing of Jones-Drew may not be exciting, but it is functional. The Raiders now have three running backs to compete for playing time and don’t need to invest any more resources at the position.
McKenzie has signed enough players so that he can now let the draft come to him. A running back now seems unlikely, but that’s only because the Raiders don’t have a glaring need.
For a team that started the offseason with needs across the entire roster, the Raiders now have so few needs that they can go in any direction in any round of the draft. That’s worth more than the pennies the Raiders will pay their stable of running backs.
It’s a pivotal year for McKenzie, so the ability to draft the “best players available” in a deep draft may prove valuable. While McKenzie’s moves may seem odd to some, they have all given him good short-term value and draft flexibility.
There is no longer pressure for McKenzie to draft starters at any position. Instead, McKenzie can target impact players. This is relevant because starting running backs can be found later in the draft, but impact players or key role players are sometimes much more difficult to identify.
Jones-Drew is also a decent candidate to have a bounce-back year. He is 29, healthy and has a chip on his shoulder.
...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
