A shorter visit to England
The Raiders don’t intend to spend much time in London before their Oct. 14 game against the Seahawks, general manager Reggie McKenzie said Friday.
McKenzie said the team’s tentative plan is to practice in Alameda that week and fly in a few days before the game rather than spend an entire week abroad.
“We’re trying to not make it as hard,” McKenzie said. “We want to keep it fairly simple for the players and go through the normal routine as much as possible.”
The Raiders last played in London in 2014. That time, they played at New England the weekend before, flew from there to England directly and were in London for a full week.
This year, McKenzie said, the Raiders requested a home game the week before the trip. Instead, they’ll play the Chargers in Carson (Los Angeles County) on Oct. 7.
“We would’ve liked to have been home,” McKenzie said. “But we’re going to try to make it as close to a regular workweek as possible.” King out: McKenzie declined to offer many details about the decision to cut punter Marquette King last month. King ranked third in the NFL with a net average of 42.7 yards per punt last season but was due to make $3.05 million next season. The Raiders saved $2.9 million against the salary cap by cutting him.
“I’m not going to get into details of that,” McKenzie said. “But his contract was pretty steep.” On Smith: McKenzie was also asked about linebacker Aldon Smith, whom the Raiders released March 5 shortly before Smith was arrested by San Francisco police in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident. Smith has had a series of legal issues, with an assistant district attorney saying Smith recently appeared at the San Francisco Sheriff ’s Department with a blood alcohol content of 0.40, five times the legal driving limit.
“It’s hard,” McKenzie said. “Aldon, he really tried. And we tried. But once you get into the program and you’ve got to send him away, there’s only so much we can do as far as getting our hands on him. But we hope and pray for the best for Aldon.”