Posted by Will BrinsonThings were going a little TOO well for the Oakland Raiders, weren't they? Well, there's a familiar air of normal oddity floating out of the Bay Thursday, as it appears the Raiders have reversed course on their decision to franchise tight end Zach Miller and are applying the tag to linebacker Kamerion Wimbley.
That's because the Raiders apparently made a little boo-boo with Wimbley's contract -- as we previously mentioned, the final buy-back year of his contract was in jeopardy because of some mathematical folly.
Now Adam Caplan of FOX Sports reports that the Raiders have decided to franchise Wimbley, which means that instead of buying back the final year of his rookie contract at $3.5 million, the Raiders will pay him more than $10 million for the 2011 season.
Wimbley's a very good player, but is he worthy of being paid an average of the top-five salaries at his position? Um, no. And that could mean that the Raiders are interested in pursuing a long-term deal with him -- though they've now done a pretty poor job of establishing a baseline for negotiations.
And there's the issue of what to do with Miller if they want to keep both players through at least 2011. They can either seek to sign him to a long-term deal at this point, or use the same RFA tag the Panthers are reportedly popping on DeAngelo Williams and Charles Johnson to at least squat on his rights for the time being.
Either way, everyone can sleep normally knowing that things are getting dysfunctional with Oakland once again.
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