The Raiders agreed to a reworked contract with Jalen Richard (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). By shifting a portion of his base salary into bonuses, the running back will open up an additional $1.06M in cap room for Las Vegas.
The move will also kick some of Richard’s cap hit into 2022, the final year of his two-year, $7M deal. Most of that sum is non-guaranteed, however, so it’s not a given that he’ll return next year.
Richard is in his sixth season with the Raiders. His best work came in 2018, when he registered a total of 866 yards from scrimmage. He wasn’t able to match that production in 2019 or 2020, combining for only 729 yards from scrimmage in 29 games. This year, the newly turned 28-year-old was supposed to open the year as a primary backup to Josh Jacobs. Instead, he’s spent the bulk of the year sidelined with a foot injury.
Richard currently sits fourth on the Raiders’ RB depth chart, behind Jacobs, Kenyan Drake and Peyton Barber. He has just eight rushing yards so far this year, but he’ll hope for a larger share of the workload this Sunday against the Giants.
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