In 2012, Raiders longtime reserve tight end, Brandon Myers, had a breakout season. It was a fortuitous time for the team's former sixth round pick because it was the final year of his rookie deal and therefore he could look to cash in on his newfound success.
He entered the free agent market and quickly signed a 4-year deal with the New York Giants. That long term deal turned out to not be so long term when, because of performance milestones in the contract language, his contract automatically voided the final three seasons and last Friday he was officially a free agent once again.
What those performance milestones were is uncertain. But his 47 catches for 522 yards wasn't enough to reach them.
Myers spent the first three seasons of his career as a little used reserve tight end. He backed up Zach Miller his first two seasons with the Raiders, then when Miller left as a free agent, the Raiders signed Kevin Boss as the starter. It wasn't until the new regime came in and cleaned house that the last man standing was Myers.
It's a credit to Myers that he literally took the ball and ran with it. He started all 16 games in 2012 and collected 79 balls for 806 yards. That was more than twice as many catches (32) and three times as many yards (250) as Myers had his first three seasons combined.
The Giants seemed a bit overeager at the time to sign the formerly unheralded tight end to a long term deal. Turns out they knew just what they were doing.
The Raiders set out to replace Myers with two other sixth round rookie, Mychal Rivera and Nick Kasa. It remains to be seen if that arrangement with pan out either.
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