The Raiders were left with some egg on their face when their deal with Rodger Saffold fell apart because the team thought he needed immediate shoulder surgery.
Saffold went back to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to the drawing board, which is where they might have been sitting when another option all but fell into their laps. The Buccaneers released tackle Donald Penn on Thursday after 108 straight starts for the team and the Raiders didn’t wait long to open up a conversation.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Penn was on a plane to Oakland on Thursday night to meet with the Raiders. Penn’s pass blocking slipped in 2012, but he’s been a productive tackle for a long time and would be a good fit for a Raiders team that let Jared Veldheer walk away while they were briefly signing Saffold to the roster.
Schefter reports Washington has interest in Penn and the Panthers could also use a left tackle, but the Raiders still have good money left to spend after signing Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley. That’s usually what winds up mattering in these moments so Penn’s first visit might be his only one.