After 10 seasons with the Packers, Jordy Nelson was released this week. But he won't be out of work long; the Raiders have finalized a two-year deal to bring him to Oakland.
Former Packers and Raiders wideout James Jones, now an analyst with NFL Network, reported that the deal is a two-year pact worth $15 million, all but $2 million of which is guaranteed.
Breaking News: Jordy Nelson to the @RAIDERS on a Two-Year Deal....15M, 13M Guaranteed
— James Jones (@89JonesNTAF) March 15, 2018
Oakland, it turns out, was the top potential landing spot, according to our colleague Will Brinson, who wrote that former Packers wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett now holds that same job with the Raiders. And general manager Reggie McKenzie was working in Green Bay when Nelson was drafted in 2008. And with Oakland choosing to part ways with Michael Crabtree, who was scheduled to count $7.7 million against the salary cap next season, replacing him with Nelson makes sense.
According to ESPN Wisconsin, the Packers asked Nelson to take a pay cut from his 2018 base salary of $9.25 million down to the veteran minimum -- $1.1 million. And he was able to land a contract that will pay him much more than that proposed number in 2018.
Still, there are concerns about how much Nelson has left. In 15 games last season he had just 53 catches for 482 yards, though the asterisk next to those numbers reminds you that playing with Brett Hundley at quarterback explains much of the drop in production. The good news is that in 2016, a year removed from an ACL injury, Nelson was as productive as ever. He had 97 catches for 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns, and ranked third in total value among all receivers, behind only Julio Jones and Mike Thomas.
In Oakland, he'll be playing in new (old) coach Jon Gruden's offense and catching passes from Derek Carr, who is also looking to rebound from a forgettable 2017 season.