Former Ole Miss running back signs with Las Vegas Raiders
Former Ole Miss running back Brandon Bolden signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday afternoon, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. He’ll be reuniting with his old offensive coordinator in New England, current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels.
Last season, Bolden had over 600 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns for the Patriots. He put up his best numbers as a pass catcher, hauling in 41 catches for 405 receiving yards and two touchdowns. As a runner, he had 44 carries for 226 rushing yards, while scoring one touchdown on the ground. It was by far, his most productive year yet in the league, so Bolden will likely be happy to be reunited with his old offensive coordinator.
The Raiders also signed two of the best defensive ends in the league in the past few days
The Raiders signed one of the biggest free agent acquisitions of the 2022 offseason on Wednesday, former Arizona Cardinals defensive end Chandler Jones. Josh McDaniels likely remembered Jones from his time with the Patriots. The star defensive end continues to show that he’s one of the best pass rushers in the National Football League. Last year in Week 1, Jones was an unblockable force, racking up five sacks. The former Syracuse standout recorded 10.5 sacks total in 2021 and made his fourth Pro Bowl appearance. Not only that, during his time in Arizona, he became the Cardinals’ franchise leader in all-time sacks with 71.5. Per PFF, Jones has a 90.4 pass rushing grade since 2019, which ranks him 6th in the league. Last year was his 10th year in the league, but he’s still proven he has the juice to be among the best in the NFL. Before Arizona, he spent four years with the Patriots, racking up 12.5 sacks in 2015 and 11.5 sacks in 2013.
Not only did the Raiders land Chandler Jones, they also locked up one of the best players on their roster, defensive end Maxx Crosby to a four-year, $98.98 million deal. The money is money well spent. Crosby has established himself as one of the league’s premiere pass rushers the past few seasons. He’s racked up 25 sacks in his career for the Raiders. The deal makes him among the highest paid defensive players in the league’s history.
Not only will Josh McDaniels have a few star pass rushers to work with, he’ll have a pretty good quarterback-wide receiver tandem in Derek Carr and Hunter Renfrow. According to PFF, Renfrow had a 96.5 percent catch rate last season, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL. The Pro Bowl wide receiver also earned the seventh best slot receiver grade from PFF last year.
It will be very interesting to see how the Josh McDaniels era works out for the Raiders.