At the end of the regular season, a report from Oakland indicated that the Raiders would part ways with wide receiver Michael Crabtree before the 2018 season got underway.
The Raiders have changed coaches since then and they may also be changing directions when it comes to their plans for Crabtree. In an interview with Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group, Jon Gruden was asked what excited him about the team’s roster and Crabtree’s name was one of the ones that came up in the coach’s response.
“I got to bump into Crabtree. Hopefully we can get the best out of Crabtree and his career,” Gruden said.
Crabtree caught 58 passes for 618 yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games last season and the report about his expected release touched on behind-the-scenes “dysfunction” contributing to the direction the team was taking. If that proves too much to bear, the Raiders would get over $7.7 million in cap space from parting ways with Crabtree.