Raiders Roll Through Free Agency: Agree to Deals with OT Barnes and CB Lee

The Oakland Raiders added two more players to their roster today, one a familiar face and the other unfamiliar. I am puzzled by the signing of the former and like the signing of the latter.

Let's begin with the familiar and puzzling signing.

The Raiders announced they have brought back RT Khalif Barnes, who played for the Raiders the past three years with mixed results. Barnes performed well at times, even lining up as an eligible receiver in certain goal line packages.

When he didn't perform well, however, it was ugly.

Barnes often accumulated holding and false start penalties on consecutive plays. With the Raiders leading the NFL in team penalties last year by a wide margin, I'm surprised they would bring back one of their most notorious offenders. I hope Barnes works in the offseason to fix some of the false start penalties (which at times were not entirely his fault), and improve his technique to avoid holding penalties.

Unlike the signing of Barnes, the Raiders' signing of one-time Green Bay CB Pat Lee really interests me.

Lee, who has impressive size (6', 196 pounds), played mostly on special teams in Green Bay, but was clearly signed with Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie's knowledge of the Packers roster.

The Raiders continue to release players whose production is not commensurate with their contracts, and they have been very calculating in their signing of players. McKenzie, therefore, must see qualities in Lee that could provide production for the Raiders.

On a side note, I still don't think this affects the Raiders' continual pursuit of free agent CB Tracy Porter, but only time will tell.

 

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