Aaron Curry signs new deal with Raiders

No sooner did Aaron Curry reveal to everyone that he had just spent six hours with the Raiders but his agent announced "He's back!!!!" in reference to his client. Curry has long made it clear he would like to come back to the Raiders and the Raiders have made it clear that they would like the same.

Later Curry himself tweeted:

"I restructured my contract because I was born a Christfilled Raider! I'm excited to be able to Glorify God and build His Kingdom w/ the best Franchise ever!!! #TEAMJESUS #RaiderMentality #RaiderMentality"

No word yet on the specifics of the deal but his cap hit was scheduled to be $5.8 million for 2012 and we can expect that figure to come down considerably. I would suspect a drop of between $2-$3 million off. He was in the last year of his contract and the new deal is also expected to be a long term extension.

The Raiders traded a seventh round pick in the 2012 draft and a conditional fifth round pick in 2013 to the Seahawks to acquire Curry. He had fallen out of favor in Seattle and had lost his starting job just two seasons after the team spent the fourth overall pick on him.

He is expected to retain his starting outside linebacker job for the Raiders of which he was handed the moment he walked in the building.

With the likely shift to a 3-4 base defense next season, the team put a premium on linebackers, making Curry's return a top priority. In 3-4 sets, he will be able to use his speed on the edge as an outside linebacker to rush the passer. He certainly has the speed and motor for it. He also has the ability to play inside if the Raiders prefer.

His fellow linebacker Kamerion Wimbley is the next priority for either a restructure or cut and it appears to be the latter. Middle linebacker Rolando McClain could possibly be looking at a restructure as well but that is a lower priority.

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