After another great outing by the Oakland Raiders offensive line, Donald Penn has decided to end his holdout. Vic Tafur, of the San Francisco Chronicle, Reports that Penn could report as early as Tuesday.
Donald Penn to End Holdout.
This comes as no surprise as the Raiders line has played well, especially tackles Marshall Newhouse and forth round draft pick David Sharpe, in the last two preseason games. In my article last week Raiders offensive line Coach Mike Tice was preparing his unit for life without Donald Penn.
After Saturday’s line performance it was clear that Penn was losing what leverage he had, with strong Showings from Newhouse, Sharpe, and Vadal Alexander. In fact Sharp has not allowed a quarterback pressure in over 50 plays in two games. And that’s at both right and left tackle.
What does this mean going forward?
It means the Raiders get back their Pro Bowl left tackle, and Marshall Newhouse will then be penciled in at right tackle. And it means the Raiders will have quality depth at both positions going into the 2017 season. It will also mean one less distraction on a team that has too many already.
Hats off to Coach Tice. He took a seven year vet that was a cast off, a second year developing players, and a rookie, and spun them into gold. The Raiders have legitimate line depth now. And this is something they have been coveting for some time.
As far as Penn getting raise, that decision will now be squarely on Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie. So far Reggie has learned from his early mistakes and has rewarded players for good play. The players respect him, and it is expected that Penn will get some sort of financial bump. What that will be is anyone’s guess right now, but expect Reggie to give some ground here after Penn has given ground. Negotiation 101.
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