Las Vegas Raiders Forum

Punter Shane Lechler might leave the Oakland Raiders during the break due to the fact that the punter is a free agent and is worth a lot of money.

According to the Bleacher Report, released on Sunday, Lechler is currently making $4 million a year. The Raiders almost lost the punter back in 2009, so they gave him a great contract for four years at $16 million. Those four years are up and he is a free agent once again.

The Raiders picked up Shane Lechler in the fifth round back in 2000, along with Sebastian Janikowski, who was picked in the first round.

Both players have been outstanding with the Raiders, making Oakland’s special teams one of the bests in the NFL. Lechler has also been a seven-time Pro Bowler in his 13 years with the Raiders.

The article reports that general manager Reggie McKenzie wants to get rid of players with “out of whack” contracts. Well, many will agree that a punter making $4 million could certainly be “out of whack.”

The Silver-and-Black is also looking to make some drastic changes for next season. That means, cutting down on overpaid players and such.

So, if Lechler is willing to take a pay cut, he could remain as a Raider. However, since his punt can be considered to be one of the bests in the NFL, other teams will most likely be making some good offers to acquire him.

LINK: http://www.examiner.com/article/shane-lechler-might-possibly-leave-the-oakland-raiders

Yeah, he may be gone - but, with King, I am not sure if it will really hurt the Raiders. Indeed, the money saved could likely be better used elsewhere. However, with the coaching mess still in place Oakland, does any player really matter?

Tenebrous wrote:Yeah, he may be gone - but, with King, I am not sure if it will really hurt the Raiders. Indeed, the money saved could likely be better used elsewhere. However, with the coaching mess still in place Oakland, does any player really matter?

I agree, we don't need a $5M per season punter. But I don't know about this King kid. I've seen him hit some monsters but I've seen him shank a few too. I don't know that he's consistent enough.

It's been nice having the 2 greatest punters in history play for the Raiders though.

He needs to stay. beef up offensive line. tighten defense and put pryor at qb

DeadRinger wrote:

Tenebrous wrote:Yeah, he may be gone - but, with King, I am not sure if it will really hurt the Raiders. Indeed, the money saved could likely be better used elsewhere. However, with the coaching mess still in place Oakland, does any player really matter?

I agree, we don't need a $5M per season punter. But I don't know about this King kid. I've seen him hit some monsters but I've seen him shank a few too. I don't know that he's consistent enough.

It's been nice having the 2 greatest punters in history play for the Raiders though.

There is no question that King is not as good/consistent as Lechlar is right now - the question is whether Lechlar is 4.5 million dollars better and, even if so, can that money not be better used elsewhere? However, as stated before, all this is irrelevant until the coaching mess is addressed.

LOCO666666 wrote:He needs to stay. beef up offensive line. tighten defense and put pryor at qb

Is that all? Lol, keeping Lechlar, beefing up O-line, & tightening D all costs money - some difficult choices need to be made. With regard to Pryor, he is still young - better to have one more season under someone like Palmer who seems to have been a great role-model for him. However, with the coaching situation in flux and the cost of keeping Palmer, who can say whether Palmer will even be with the Silver n' Black next season. What a waste of draft picks though - unbelievable. Yes, Jackson overpaid, but RM & DA have taken a questionably bad trade and made it into a horrifically bad trade by trying to implement/force a system that that did not fit the players - will CP take a serious pay cut to stay in this mess?!

Lechler is going to be gone. Not my wish. Every game we won this season, Condo, Lechler and Seabass (in that order) have provided the margin. And idiots on the HoF voting never understood/will never inderstand how pivotal a good punter is to field position and therefore ultimately competitive games.

There is no reason for the Raiders to IR King unless they planned to have him take over in 2013. He is not as consistent as Lechler, and that will cost us. Still, players can grow to become better (Seabass has, and he was already good but has become far more consistent than early in his career), and the $$$ will be useful in FA in areas where we have insufficient talent and no depth. Getting better starting talent and acceptable NFL depth cost.

Tenebrous wrote:

LOCO666666 wrote:He needs to stay. beef up offensive line. tighten defense and put pryor at qb

Is that all? Lol, keeping Lechlar, beefing up O-line, & tightening D all costs money - some difficult choices need to be made. With regard to Pryor, he is still young - better to have one more season under someone like Palmer who seems to have been a great role-model for him. However, with the coaching situation in flux and the cost of keeping Palmer, who can say whether Palmer will even be with the Silver n' Black next season. What a waste of draft picks though - unbelievable. Yes, Jackson overpaid, but RM & DA have taken a questionably bad trade and made it into a horrifically bad trade by trying to implement/force a system that that did not fit the players - will CP take a serious pay cut to stay in this mess?!

Why would Palmer take a pay cut after what was basically a career season for him? We would have been 0-16 if we still had Campbell under center.

What sucks is that history will say Hue's trade for Palmer was a big mistake. But it wasn't bad at all. Hue had this team right where he wanted it after last season. If Al hadn't died we'd have made a wildcard this year, I'm sure of it. I think DEN would have still been the class of the west, but we would have been a very tough team to beat.

Now we're in the middle of a massive train wreck with no end in sight. Unfortunately for us, getting a new OC and a couple new offensive assistants isn't the coaching overhaul we REALLY needed. Dennis Allen is ineffective at best, incompetent and disdained at worst. Which is sad, because if he had gotten another 10 years of coordinator-level experience under his belt he might have been ready for a HC job somewhere. And his DC has given us absolutely no reason to believe he'll straighten things out next year.

DeadRinger wrote:

Tenebrous wrote:

LOCO666666 wrote:He needs to stay. beef up offensive line. tighten defense and put pryor at qb

Is that all? Lol, keeping Lechlar, beefing up O-line, & tightening D all costs money - some difficult choices need to be made. With regard to Pryor, he is still young - better to have one more season under someone like Palmer who seems to have been a great role-model for him. However, with the coaching situation in flux and the cost of keeping Palmer, who can say whether Palmer will even be with the Silver n' Black next season. What a waste of draft picks though - unbelievable. Yes, Jackson overpaid, but RM & DA have taken a questionably bad trade and made it into a horrifically bad trade by trying to implement/force a system that that did not fit the players - will CP take a serious pay cut to stay in this mess?!

Why would Palmer take a pay cut after what was basically a career season for him? We would have been 0-16 if we still had Campbell under center.

What sucks is that history will say Hue's trade for Palmer was a big mistake. But it wasn't bad at all. Hue had this team right where he wanted it after last season. If Al hadn't died we'd have made a wildcard this year, I'm sure of it. I think DEN would have still been the class of the west, but we would have been a very tough team to beat.

Now we're in the middle of a massive train wreck with no end in sight. Unfortunately for us, getting a new OC and a couple new offensive assistants isn't the coaching overhaul we REALLY needed. Dennis Allen is ineffective at best, incompetent and disdained at worst. Which is sad, because if he had gotten another 10 years of coordinator-level experience under his belt he might have been ready for a HC job somewhere. And his DC has given us absolutely no reason to believe he'll straighten things out next year.

Agreed - history may record this as Jackson's mistake, but there is little doubt this is RM's mistake. For me it is way too early to assume DA would have been even a good coordinator - even after 10 years. He was a DC for just one year under a defensive minded HC and Denver's D, under Del Rio, looks better this year than last. He may have been, he may not have been - but the fact that it is not clear should point out the obvious - he should not have been given a HC position after just one season as DC.

In contrast to Jackson, who was also an OC for just one year - Jackson arrived in Oakland (the offense was nearly non-existent) and in just one year he lit that offense of fire. Though some incredulously want to credit Cable for the offensive revival, Cable certainly did not do it - or else he would have done it before Jackson arrived.

RIPDanBirdwell wrote:Lechler is going to be gone. Not my wish. Every game we won this season, Condo, Lechler and Seabass (in that order) have provided the margin. And idiots on the HoF voting never understood/will never inderstand how pivotal a good punter is to field position and therefore ultimately competitive games.

There is no reason for the Raiders to IR King unless they planned to have him take over in 2013. He is not as consistent as Lechler, and that will cost us. Still, players can grow to become better (Seabass has, and he was already good but has become far more consistent than early in his career), and the $$$ will be useful in FA in areas where we have insufficient talent and no depth. Getting better starting talent and acceptable NFL depth cost.

Agreed - by the way, is this the same 'Birdwell' from previous forums?