The Las Vegas Raiders have an offensive line to rebuild, and it’s not going to be an easy job. New coach Klint Kubiak will get left tackle Kolton Miller back, which is especially good news given how badly the offensive line fell apart when Miller hurt his ankle.
There are other issues with the line, though, and one is getting rid of some of the deadwood. The Athletic did a rundown on players who might end up being cap cuts this offseason, and the Raiders choice from Ted Nguyen was guard Alex Cappa.
Performance-wise, Cappa certainly qualifies as deadwood. The Raiders rushed to play Cappa $5 million last offseason when it was coming off a terrible year in which his play was on par with some of the worst guards in the league, and Cappa didn’t improve any. He was one of the big reasons running back Ashton Jeanty couldn’t find interior rushing lanes, and he also got quarterback Geno Smith hammered by pass rushers for most of the season.
Cappa is scheduled to make $6 million this year, but cutting him would save Las Vegas $5 million. According to Nguyen, cutting Cappa should be one of the easiest decisions of the offseason.
But Nguyen also mentioned another name in a way that was more than a little intriguing. Smith is also a cut candidate, and he has injury protection money built into his contract that would make it smart to let the quarterback go sooner rather than later.
Nguyen added an intriguing little nugget about Kubiak, however, stating that he’s took the Seattle job as offensive coordinator so he could work the Smith before he was traded from Seattle to Las Vegas. The writer thinks Kubiak might be interested in a reunion with Smith to use him as a bridge quarterback to get to Fernando Mendoza, who’s expected to be selected by the Raiders with the first pick of the draft in April.
To Raiders fans, this will likely sound beyond crazy. Smith led the league in interceptions, and he also flipped off the home fans after a dreadful home loss. He’s the last player the fan base wants to see come back, and the negative publicity Kubiak would draw if he decided to do this would take a lot off his honeymoon shine as the new coach who’s going to bring the Raiders back to respectability.
There is one reason to do this, however—money. The Raiders are on the hook for $18 million regardless of what they do with Smith, so there might be some push from ownership to retain him. It’s not a good idea, but this is how the Raiders roll.