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Until now, the Raiders have been the most active team with highly successful independent agent signatures, bringing several players to important contracts. Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock had a solid plan to go free and worked hard to meet many of their team's needs with exciting young players. However, there are still several vital needs for the team that remain largely ignored, and it seems that the first major acquisition of Raiders this month is the reason.
"The joker of our planning was to understand that Antonio Brown might be available," said Mayock at Brown's introductory press conference. "When, suddenly, we realized we could have an opportunity to compete for its services, it changed everything."
If you have a plan that may involve attacking first pass forwards and strengthening the offensive line, but the best wide football receiver is available, what are you doing? Mayock and Gruden chose to try to change their plan, but it was not an easy task and it seemed like it might not happen.
Mayock went on the podcast of JT the Brick's on raiders.com, the Game Plan, this week and explained how it went.
"We were not even involved in the deal until Friday after the agreement with Buffalo, because we were not willing to give up on one of our first-round picks, or our second-round pick . In the end, when this deal failed, they called Jon Gruden, Jon called me, I phoned Kevin Colbert and Kevin and I set a three to five, "said Mayock.
"Then, the hard work began with Drew Rosenhaus, who tried to put together the financial piece. Drew did a great job, but the deal failed several times. I went to bed on Friday night and thought the market was off the table. I woke up Saturday and tried to reactivate it. At the end of the day, Drew and I were on the phone non-stop. Both parties have left office. What's good is that Gruden and Antonio got along well, their relationship is amazing. "
There were many rumors in the circles of the Raiders and around the league that the Raiders, when they were trading against Brown as many thought, would have to give up one of their first three or their second . According to Mayock, this would never happen.
"The top four choices in the top 35 were off the table. We had a tremendous amount of phone calls and conversations with league CEOs to find out what we are going to do with this temporary capital, "said Mayock.
One would expect a new director general to be a little naive, eager to reach an agreement, not really knowing what he is doing. That does not seem to be the case for Mayock, who keeps his top four picks in the repechage like a dragon with his golden treasure. Even with the Brown contract, Mayock was able to recruit tackle Trent Brown, safety Lamarcus Joyner, receivers Tyrell Williams and JJ Nelson and defenseman Josh Mauro, in addition to bringing in bidding players. They still have money to spend and they still have four draft picks in the first two rounds.
They have certainly missed some players (read: pass rushers) that they may have otherwise signed and it is possible that they lose Jared Cook to another team. But that's the price you have to pay when you enter a deal for an elite player, as the Raiders did by bringing in Brown. As with AJ McCarron and Jordy Nelson, more cuts could be made. The Raiders are far from over in this free investment period and they have demonstrated their ability to adjust and maintain an advantageous position. This bodes well for the team starting the 2019 season and beyond.
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