Raiders’ veteran DE Seymour may not receive new contract this season

The Oakland Raiders veteran defensive end Richard Seymour is unlikely to get a new long-term contract this season as it’s only hours left before the league’s deadline for franchise tagged players to sign new contract. Seymour will not be allowed to sign multi-year contract until this season ends if he does not receive one before the deadline.

The deadline is set on Thursday, and if no contract is reached by that time, Seymour will have to play under his current one-year contract that was offered by the Raiders earlier this offseason after giving him the franchise tag during his free agency. By using the franchise tag on Seymour, the Raiders did not only prevent the player from putting on his favorite Minnesota Vikings jersey, but also kept the right to keep the free agent for another season without paying much more than a standard salary..

Being drafted by the New England Patriots in 2001 as a sixth overall pick, Seymour spent all his first eight seasons with the Patriots before being traded to the Raiders last offseason. He came to be a starter and started every game of the 2009 season, finishing it with 47 tackles, 4 sacks and one forced fumble.

Raiders hammered out contracts with two rookies

The Oakland Raiders rookie tackle Jared Veldheer was just working out on his own in an Archie Manning jersey when he received a call from his new teammate, rookie guard Bruce Campbell to inform him of an upcoming rookie contract. The two met with each other the next day at team headquarter and signed their names on their respective rookie contracts.

The team did not release the detailed information about the two rookies’ contracts, and they even did not tell reporters how long each contract would keep the two rookies with them. If they received two standard rookie contracts, they would be two four-year deals. But according reports, third-round draft pick Veldheer could have a bigger contract than fourth—rounder Campbell, because Veldheer has a better resume than Campbell.

At height 6-foot-8 and weighing 315 pound, Veldheer was a Division II All-American selection and a three-time all-conference pick before he was drafted by the Raiders as the 69th overall pick, while 6-foot-6 Campbell fell to fourth round because of less consistency and intensity in actual games.