Raiders release three veterans

By Hugo Guzman  |   Wednesday, March 02, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Oakland Raiders
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The Raiders released three veterans Monday as they moved closer to reaching compliance with the salary-cap limit by the league's deadline, an NFL source said. Gone are FS Ray Buchanan, LG Frank Middleton and TE Roland Williams. Buchanan and Middleton were starters at the beginning of the 2004 season. Also, the Raiders restructured the contract of starting left offensive tackle Barry Sims on Monday. That leaves them with little to do today in reaching the league-mandated $85.5 million limit.

Middleton, 30, spent the past four seasons with the Raiders. However, injuries cut short his past two seasons, and Brad Badger's play in place of Middleton last season and Middleton's $2 million salary for '05 made him expendable. Badger's play also makes it unlikely the Raiders will re-sign Middleton as they did after releasing him last offseason. Middleton started for the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII and was considered one of the team's leaders.

Buchanan, 33, signed with the Raiders before last season and started all 16 games at free safety. He was scheduled to earn $1 million this season. The Raiders now can move Stuart Schweigert to free safety with the expected return to full health of veteran strong safety Derrick Gibson.

Gibson is a Miami native and Killian Senior High graduate who went on to star at Florida State University. Derrick was the Raiders #1 pick in the 2001 draft. He sustained an injury during Oakland's exhibition finale September 2 and missed the entire season. It is also conceivable that the Raiders will re-sign Buchanan before the season starts, only for a lower salary and not until seeing how Schweigert and other hopefuls perform.

Sims has made a habit of restructuring his contract each year. He did so again Monday in a move beneficial to both sides, according to his agent, Ken Vierra. The Raiders and Vierra changed the wording and structure of Sims' contract so that only $2 million of his $3.1 million base salary is guaranteed and the cap liability drops by $1.6 million.

Williams, 29, returned to the Raiders last season for a second stint. This one didn't go anywhere nearly as well as the 2001 and '02 seasons he spent with Oakland. He battled injuries all season and didn't make much of a contribution.

The Raiders expect further assistance in their quest to navigate their way around the salary cap by getting the Minnesota Vikings to renegotiate wide receiver Randy Moss' contract, in advance of trading him to the Raiders, so that Moss' cap number for 2005 is far less than the current figure of $7.25 million, a person in the Raiders front office who requested anonymity said.

Lastly, Raiders receiver Jerry Porter's cap-friendly contract calls for him to earn $1 million in base salary each of the next three seasons, the person in the Raiders front office said. That figure jumps to $5.2 million in 2008 and $6.4 million in '09, years that are voidable and thus non-applicable.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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