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Raiders To Re-Sign Donald Penn

NFL News
March 16, 2016

The Raiders will re-sign left tackle Donald Penn to a new contract today, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). As Rapoport explains, Penn had been scheduled to make a visit to the Giants this week, but he won’t end up getting on a plane to make that trip, having struck a deal with the Raiders instead.Donald Penn

Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported overnight (via Twitter) that Penn and the Raiders were finalizing a new contract, with Scott Bair of CSNCalifornia.com confirming (via Twitter) that the two sides had made “significant progress” toward a deal.

Penn has been one of the more reliable and consistent left tackles in the NFL over the past two seasons for the Raiders. In 2015, he ranked 11th at the position, according to Pro Football Focus — PFF assigned him an especially strong grade as a pass blocker. The Utah State product will turn 33 in April, so he’s unlikely to land a lucrative, long-term contract, but he should be in line for a raise on his last deal, which paid him a little more than $10MM in total over two years.

With Penn back in the fold, the Raiders will be able to play newly-signed Kelechi Osemele at guard, rather than asking him to replace Penn at left tackle. While that means that Osemele will be making left tackle money (nearly $12MM per year) to play an interior line spot, it should strengthen Oakland’s line as a whole, with the team taking advantage of its excess of cap room.

Penn’s agreement with the Raiders is the latest in a string of deals for offensive tackles. In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen Ryan Harris agree to sign with the Steelers, Kelvin Beachum strike a deal with the Jets, and Chris Hairston agree to re-sign with the Chargers. Russell Okung and Andre Smith are among the noteworthy free agent tackles still on the board. Now that they’re no longer getting a visit from Penn, it will be interesting to see if the Giants make a more aggressive push to land Okung.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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