GM McKenzie has options at running back
In a world of devalued running backs, NFL general managers have just hit the mother lode.
Need a running back? Future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, the 2012 Most Valuable Player, is available. Want someone who can catch, too? How about Jamaal Charles? His 5.5 career yards per attempt is the best ever for an NFL running back and Kansas City cut him Tuesday.
Both of those backs are coming off injuries and are on the wrong side of 30, but there are plenty of other options on the market as well. With all indications that the Raiders are going to let Latavius Murray walk in free agency, Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie is shopping at precisely the right time.
Besides Peterson and Charles, bulls-in-a-china-shop Eddie Lacy and LeGarette Blount are available. Not to mention one of the deepest draft classes at the position in recent memory.
McKenzie will wait to see what the free-agent market dictates for running backs while spending this week interviewing and watching prospects at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
McKenzie liked Murray, especially considering the value he got from a sixth-round pick in 2013. Murray ran for 1,066 yards in 2015 and 12 touchdowns last season.
“We like to re-sign our guys, but you can’t keep all of them,” McKenzie said. “We’ll have to see how that goes.”
McKenzie, meanwhile, won’t address rumors, which means they will get only louder. People close to Peterson have been telling reporters that he is interested in coming to Oakland. And that makes sense, given the fact that Raiders have the biggest — and one of the best — offensive line in the NFL.
The Vikings announced Tuesday that they will not exercise Peterson’s $18 million contract option for the 2017 season, and he likely will be lucky to find something at half that number.
He will be 32 in three weeks and is coming off a suspension and injuries that have cut short two of his past three seasons. He did run for 1,485 yards in 2015 and though his lack of pass-blocking and receiving skills aren’t a great fit for Oakland’s system, a motivated Hall of Fame runner is a good fit anywhere at the right price.
Charles, meanwhile, has been cut down by knee injuries, missing 14 games in 2011 and 24 combined in the past two seasons. He says he is healthy, and ran for 1,509 yards the first time he came back in 2012. Charles then scored 19 touchdowns in 2013 before he had more ACL problems.
The Raiders could opt to go for the clean bill of youth, though it is unlikely they would draft a running back in the first round. Unless — and this is early, early, early — they have decided that Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey is special and he is still on the board at No. 24.
McKenzie, head coach Jack Del Rio and the Raiders’ scouts are intrigued by McCaffrey, and NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock can see why.
“McCaffrey’s a matchup guy,” Mayock said in a conference call. “He’s a chess piece. He averaged between 6 and 6.5 yards a carry. He’s an outstanding pass catcher. He’s bigger and tougher than people think he is. And he’s also a return guy.
“So you’ve got to have a plan if you draft him with the first-round pick as to how you want to utilize him, especially based on what you have on your roster already. … He’s going to get 20 touches, but it’s going to be probably 12 or 13 in the run game; 6, 7 or 8 in pass game.”
If McCaffrey is gone or the Raiders decide not to take him, McKenzie might be looking for a bigger back to share carries with 5-foot-8 darters Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington, who both had impressive rookie seasons. Wyoming’s Brian Hill and BYU’s Jamaal Williams, projected to go in the third round, are two names you will hear tied to the Raiders this week and before the NFL draft.