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Thoughts from the Dark Side
Oakland Raiders Shocker: Rhodes released
Image details: Oakland Raiders v Seattle Seahawks served by picapp.com
Rhodes is the first casualty of the McFadden pick.
After hauling in Darren McFadden, you had to know that the Raiders weren’t going to keep all of their veteran running backs on the roster. The consensus pick to be released by the Raiders was Lamont Jordan. The shocker is that Dominic Rhodes is the first back to be released by the Oakland Raiders. Rhodes only had one season left on his contract, so the cap hit shouldn’t be too substantive.
After winning a Super Bowl with the Colts, Rhodes was signed to be (what was thought at the time) the starter at running back for the Raiders. Due to a four game suspension for a drunk driving conviction, Lamont Jordan held on to the starting job, relegating Justin Fargas to the third string.
While Rhodes was waiting out his suspension, Jordan got injured and Fargas came on to be a force for the running game. Rhodes ended up only starting two games due to injury to Fargas and ineffectiveness of Jordan. In those two games, he ran for 237 yards on 56 carries for a 4.2 yards per carry average.
Before the draft Rhodes was thought to be the safety net to Justin Fargas, called ‘Crash Test Dummy’ due to his running style that leaves him open to injury. Michael Bush was expected to vie for the second string while Jordan would either be fourth string or cut.
The move leaves the Raiders with six running backs, with Fargas, McFadden, and Bush the likely candidates to make the 2008 squad. Jordan is still expected to be released, but the Raiders most likely won’t release him until after June 1st which will prevent any bonuses from accelerating into this year’s cap limit. The Raiders also have recently re-acquired Adimchinobe Echemandu, who was last year’s most productive back in the preseason, and yesterday signed undrafted rookie free agent Louis Rankin from Washington University.
…more to come
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on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 3:50 pm and is filed under 2008 Offseason, 2008 NFL Draft.
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16 Responses to “Oakland Raiders Shocker: Rhodes released”
April 28th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
My sincere regards go out to Rhodes and his contributions(although small but nonetheless helpful) and I wish him the best of luck for the future. I feel that he can find a team (probably the jets) to play with next season but I am seriously shocked to learn that he was released before Jordan. There must have been something that went wrong with him with him and raider’ front offices as his performance was certainly much better than Lamont’s and if Al Davis was in his right mind, he wouldnt have released the more productive of the two first especially after he just had his contract just restructured and shortened money wise. Oh well lets wait and see whats next. Best of Luck, Rhodes!
April 28th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
They must have know in the draft that Rhodes would be released very shortly, so why did they not try to trade him, even for a 6th or 7th. Surely a team would have parted ways with a 6th or 7th for him.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
nilbymouth,
That absolutely makes since to me. I wonder why they didn’t. Go figure.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Maybe it was expected around the league that Rhodes would be cut so no trade.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I’m still a little bewildered on the selection of Mcfadden, I was looking forward to seeing what the tandem of Fargas and Bush would do, and wanted Dorsey or Gholston, or a tradedown. I am still really interested in Micheal Bush (awesome in college) and was hoping he would be our breakout guy after having a year to heal and learn, but hey, maybe Mcfadden and Bush will do good together. As for Rhodes, shoulda kept him and got rid of Lamont, probably will still get rid of Lamont (good riddance), anyways, fingers crossed, Let’s get at least .500 boys!! RaiderNation4Lyfe
April 28th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Dorsey the best player in the draft and oh by the way he fill our biggest need. But I also think Mcfadden is the second best player in the draft. Maybe Bush wows in the preason and we can trade him for a nose tackle, run stopping DE, or a OT cuz Fargas is not as tradeable
April 28th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Raiders till death while i have to agree with you in your apologies to Rhodes, someone was gonna be the odd man out maybe he can sign back with the Colts or with the Chicago Bears. And i think Jordan will be next but that will be after June 1st so we dont take the cap hit. But what i dont understand is why we released him if he had just restructured his contract a few weeks ago. Part of the problem with him is that if he gets in trouble again he could be facing a years suspension.
GO RAIDERS!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Hey inonewordraider there is no way we can trade Fargas or Bush hell no. We could be beast no way we trade them!
GO RAIDERS!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yet another move that is reason for outright rage on Raider fans part. Why the HELL couldn’t we get a pick for Rhodes? You cannot convince me that we could not have gotten a mid to low round pick for Rhodes in the draft instead of just releasing him outright. Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa times says that he thinks the Raiders could re-sign him before the beginning of the season. My question is: If that is the case why did they restructure his deal a few weeks ago? Jordan is the guy that is supposed to be released while Rhodes is actually worth something to either the Raiders or a team in trade.
All the comments are centered and it is annoying to read.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Rob?
Stop calling it “Washington University” it is The “University of Washington” or “UDub” as Alums call it.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Patrick even expected releases get traded so that the team doesn’t have to compete for his services. Happens all the time.
Yet again Corey O it makes no SENSE to you not SINCE illiterate. Last time you tried to pass it off as a typo even though you did it three times in one post. Still going for that angle? Didn’t think so.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I personally was rooting for Chris Long to forfill his destiny and be a RAIDER like his poppy, but thas da way it goes i guess. Since there was a whole left by Sapp, I was hoping for Dorsey and then the surprise (MCFADDEN) happened. With the release of Rhodes and the non-release of Jordan, just What the hell is going on here? No draft pick for him? Mcfadden is here so a Raider welcome to him. We probly going to run the wish bone offense then RIGHT? With a few throws down field for AL too.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Anyone who knows football wouldn’t call it Washington University or Ahregon or Oregahn or USC as we Pac 10 Guys just refer to them as SC. Gotta love experts who only know their team or conference.
Washington University or Wash U. is located in St. Louis, Missouri. I would’ve put MO but I’m afraid you may have confused it with Mississippi.
There’s no excuse!
Tell me why the round panel during the draft was so uninformed talking about Beck QB Miami when they’d already dealt for McCown. Like him or not, if he were going to be a backup he’d have stayed in Oakland. He went to Miami to start and the panel didn’t even know it.
There’s no excuse!
April 29th, 2008 at 5:21 am
About time…
I also like the return of “Joe” Echemandu.
Dissapointed he wasn’t used in ‘07. With Carr gone, why not use Joe on punt/kick returns.He doesn’t fumble, and ran a 4.33 at the ‘04 combine.
He’s also a good character guy.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I’m with you Tony, I think Ech should be our 4th and final tailback, and play special teams. Please people, let the Glenn Dorsey pick go! He was never going to be our pick after Kelly’s signing. Never. Kiffen said it himself after the draft, Dorsey is going to be a 3 technique in the NFL, so is Kelly. Therefore, Dorsey would not be filling a hole, we would just be paying about 20 mil a year for two d tackles that play the same spot. Speaking of filling a hole, has anyone heard any more on the rumer of getting Grady Jackson back? He goes for about 365lbs, and plays the nose in a 4-3. Thats the hole we need filled, unless we think Sands can do it. Oh yea, dido for all the Ellis lovers that thought we should have traded down and picked him, not the kind of tackle we need. You guys may not think much of Kelly, but aparently the Raiders love him. So we will not be getting any more tackles unless it is for depth, or a really fat guy to eat up space and blockers, Kelly is our man. So let it go. We were going end or McFadden in the draft.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Your right! Dorsey Sucks and F**k da Cheifs! Getting Grady Jackson back would be awesome. Then Kelly goes to D-end. Perfect scenario. Oaktown’s got a hell of a log jam at tailback. Wishbone Offense at the 3rd-4th and short/Goal line. Who’s with me!
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