Austin Howard Signs With Oakland Raiders

Austin Howard Signs With Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders certainly didn’t waste any time finding the much needed offensive tackles for next season. The Oakland team managed to sign lineman Austin Howard, with less than a day after free agency began.

The deal stands to make the ex-Jets player an estimated $30 million in the next five years with $15 million of the sum being guaranteed money. During the same Tuesday, the Raiders also signed a deal with lineman Rodger Saffold who played for the St. Louis Rams. The five year contract will earn Saffold an estimated $42.5 million with $21 million being guaranteed.

The Raiders apparently have already made room for their newest players with Saffold playing left tackle while Howard will play right tackle, a position he is surely comfortable in as he played every Jets game in it during the last two years.

Until making the team for the Jets, Howard only managed to play four games in his first two years in the NFL. While free agency earned the Oakland team two tackles it also cost them Jared Veldheer, Lamarr Houston and Rashad Jennings to other free agent deals.

Financially the situation looks even worse as Veldheer, who signed with Arizona and Jennings who got a spot in Chicago both signed for a smaller combined sum than Howard and Saffold cost.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Friday March 14 2014, 4:18 AM EST. Ref: cbssports. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0