Minimum salaries work on a scale in the NFL, rising as a player gains experience. This should help veteran players who are cap casualties in one city find work in another. While this is going down, one wide receiver made significant news this week with a short move. After 16 years with San Francisco, Jerry Rice this week crossed the bay and signed with the Oakland Raiders, joining Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, Ronnie Lott, and most recently Charlie Garner, as players to star for the 49ers and eventually sign with the hated Raiders. Rice joins QB Rich Gannon and WRs Tim Brown and Andre Rison in what is a very dangerous, and old, passing game.
Rice can certainly be a difference maker here.
For a team that was so close to the Super Bowl, signing a top running back like Garner and a proven winner like Rice could make the difference between the Raiders watching the Super Bowl on TV and playing in it in January 2002. I'd like to thank Randy Moss for the extra discussion fodder he's provided us over the last few weeks. The Vikings wide receiver has made the news more than anybody else in the organization this offseason. There was the temper tantrum he threw after the Vikings' loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship. Moss has said he wants to be the highest-paid player in the National Football League.