WALKER STAYS WITH THE RAIDERS

Remember those reports that the Raiders were poised to cut receiver Javon Walker? As it turns out, they were wr-wr-wr-wr-premature. According to David White of the San Francisco Chronicle, Walker has agreed to a major restructuring of his contract, giving up a $5 million roster bonus that was due this week and reducing his base salaries dramatically. In return, his new base salaries for 2009 and 2010 are fully guaranteed. The move creates nearly $8 million in cap space for the Raiders. His 2009 base salary has been cut from $4 million to $2 million, and his base salary for 2010 has been reduced from $6 million to 2.6 million next season. Walked also agreed to reduce his base salary in 2011 from $8 million to $3.2 million. His 2012 base drops from $10 million to $3.8 million. And his 2013 base falls from $10 million to $4.4 million. That is a lot of sprayed champagne. But while it’s easy to focus on what Walker gave up, the reality is that, absent the restructuring, he would have gotten not another dime from the team. It’s also a sign that Walker didn’t feel all that strongly about a potential injury grievance aimed at collecting the $5 million injury-guaranteed roster bonus, to which he arguably would have been entitled since he finished the 2008 season on injured reserve. Our guess is that Walker’s agent gauged the market, and determined that the offer that the Raiders put on the table was better than anything Walker would get from another team. So, in some cases, tampering actually strengthens the relationship between the player and his current team.