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The Oakland Raiders notified halfback Dominic Rhodes that he is being released.

The move wasn't much of a surprise. The Raiders invested the fourth pick in the first round of the NFL draft on halfback Darren McFadden. With McFadden, Michael Bush, Justin Fargas and LaMont Jordan under contract, someone had to be the odd man out, and it turned out to be Rhodes.

The salary cap was behind Rhodes' release. When the Raiders traded cornerback Fabian Washington to Baltimore Sunday, they took a $1.093,750 cap hit, putting them over the salary cap.

Rhodes had a $1.75 million salary, enough to put the Raiders back under the cap once he was released.

Rhodes, 29, signed a two-year contract with the Raiders last year. He was suspended for four games last season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, and ended up rushing for only 302 yards on 75 carries.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3372456

So are they going to keep Lamont Jordan then?

Just came here to post the same thing.

I think Jordan will be a cap casualty too but they're waiting to see Michael Bush in action before they axe Jordan. He might have some nominal trade value later this summer.

I don't know why they signed him last year, but it's the Raiders for you.

Michael Bush and McFadden can be deadly, what's really great is they can both catch the ball.

Does anyone know the status on Michael Bush? Is he going to be able to play this year.

Bush is at 232 pounds and everyone around him believes he's never been in better shape. He's running full speed and he estimates he's got about 90% of his leg strength back. If that's true he's a faster version of TJ Duckett, and that's a very good thing for OAK.

They still have some trimming to do. After cutting Rhodes they now have about $1.1M of salary cap available to sign their rookies. Consider McFadden is going to get a signing bonus around $27.5M and about a 5yr/$56M contract. At minimum, they need at least $10M more in cap room to sign him. Unless they've done some voodoo economics I'm not aware of.

(04-29) 22:38 PDT -- The Raiders caught the league's attention when they released Dominic Rhodes and his $1.75 million contract Monday. Many figured LaMont Jordan would be the first to go with his $4.7 million owed this season.

Rhodes helped explain the move during an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday.

He said that when he restructured his contract two months ago, it was with the understanding the Raiders would release him if they drafted Arkansas running back Darren McFadden.

The Raiders did pick McFadden, so Rhodes got his wish. They informed him Sunday of his release, which then came Monday.

"We had like a stable full of running backs that are capable," Rhodes said. "We went and drafted a guy that - he's a great runner, don't get me wrong - but I don't understand the logic behind it.

"I don't really think that (coach) Lane Kiffin wanted to take a running back in the first round, let's just put it like that. He has to deal with it now, but I don't think that's what he wanted to do."

Rhodes left convinced that Kiffin isn't in control of much at all, at least in terms of personnel. Asked if Kiffin had a chance to succeed in Oakland, Rhodes said, "I don't know, man. It's going to be hard. He's put in all these different bad situations to where he doesn't have a chance, you know? When you know you need to stop the run and you don't get anybody to stop the run.... He just doesn't really have a chance, because somebody else is in control all the time."

if al would just listen to kiffin, the team would get better. but getting stronger in the runningback position, is not good when you need to stop teams from running on you.

Raiders were stupid to sign him last year. Rhodes was stupid to sign with the raiders. He could have gone somewhere else. (Although he was stupid enough to do some roids)

Conadra wrote:Raiders were stupid to sign him last year. Rhodes was stupid to sign with the raiders. He could have gone somewhere else. (Although he was stupid enough to do some roids)

When did Alcohol become a roid?

Wait, I thought he was suspended because he tested positive for steroids?

He should have known he was going to get released when they drafted McFadden.

Conadra wrote:Wait, I thought he was suspended because he tested positive for steroids?

Nope. He got busted driving drunk (because he was going 81 in a 55)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2925395

any chance he heads back to Indianapolis?

magicfan4life05 wrote:any chance he heads back to Indianapolis?

NFL.com - It seems likely that recently released running back Dominic Rhodes will re-join the Indianapolis Colts, according to the NFL Network.

He shared the backfield with Joseph Addai when the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2006.

The Raiders released Rhodes after drafting Darren McFadden, something they promised him heading into the Draft. [READ]

http://www.realgmfootball.com/src_wiret ... the_colts/


Nostradamus?

^^ either that or no other team wants to take a chance on him, I dont really think he would fit anywhere else.