Two former Raiders among worst NFL contracts

Jason LaCanfora has put together a list of the best and worst bargains in the NFL and two former Raiders have made the list. This is in stark contrast to recent history when Al Davis was known for handing out some of the biggest paydays in the NFL. And while there are no Raiders on the best contract list, there are also none on the worst contract list either.

There are two names that were once Raiders-DeAngelo Hall and Zach Miller. For Hall, he was originally given a huge payday by the Raiders when they traded a second round pick to the Falcons to get him. But after a half season of getting burnt like Starbucks coffee beans, Hall and much of his big contract were cut. The Redskins picked him up and he got another big paycheck from them.

Here is what LaCanfora had to say about Hall and his contract:

DeAngelo Hall, Redskins, CB, $6.5M: This one looms large on several fronts. Hall is prone to outbursts, gambles far too often on routes and gets burned a ton, and also isn't known for his tackling. He gets some interceptions, but his plus-minus rating wouldn't be good. He can be disruptive and is making a boatload of money in a secondary that got shredded at times last season. Oh, and the Redskins dumped about $19 million in cash in his contract into the 2010 uncapped year, which led to the eventual sanctions by the NFL that included a $36 million cap hit over two seasons. (I thought the NFL coming out years later and agreeing to a side-deal on these cap ramifications was unfair, but whatever your opinion of that, the reality is that cap space is gone.) So, yeah, um, that's a prohibitive contract under any standard.

As for Zach Miller, he and the Raiders were at a stalemate last offseason and most thought the Raiders three time receiving leader would be back with the team that drafted him. But the Seahawks swooped in and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse.

So while Al Davis was handing out huge paydays to the likes of Kamerion Wimbley, who would no doubt have made this list had they not cut him this offseason, he let Miller join his former head coach Tom Cable in Seattle. Now it appears the money they are paying him is not considered very well spent.

Here is what LaCanfora had to say about Miller and his contract:

Zach Miller, Seahawks, TE, $6M: The Seahawks expected a game-breaker when they signed him as a free agent, pretty much the only one of the Raiders' 2011 top free agents Al Davis did not hand over ridiculous amounts of cash to retain. Instead, he never found his way in 2011 and, following the trade for tight end Kellen Winslow, when healthy a good pass catcher, the plot has only thickened in Seattle. The Seahawks are certainly hoping for bigger things from another 2011 free-agent splash, WR Sidney Rice, set to make $7 million this season.

To see the entire list, Click Here

It is refreshing not to see one or more Raiders among the worst contracts. Although, I really did expect to see one of either Sebastian Janikowski or Shane Lechler on the list simply because they are getting paid big money at positions most consider not to be an area into which a team should sink a lot of money. But it was good to see that LaCanfora may just consider the extreme talent of the two Pro Bowl special teamers to be worth some money.

What we have is money that now appears well spent. It proves that Reggie McKenzie did indeed rid the team of the "out of whack" contracts such as Wimbley, Stanford Routt, and Kevin Boss and restructured some others like Michael Huff, Richard Seymour, and Carson Palmer to make them into much better values.

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