When the Raiders traded away Rodney Hudson to the Arizona Cardinals, it left a big hole at the starting center position. However, the Raiders didn’t view it that way as they believe they have a starting-caliber replacement already on the roster.
On Monday, the team locked up that player to a contract extension, signing Andre James to a three-year deal. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the deal is worth $12.5 million with $6 million in guaranteed money.
Staying home.
We have signed OL @AndreJames77 to a multi-year contract extension » https://t.co/8nWxkUpis4 pic.twitter.com/737HkteH31
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) March 22, 2021
James was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Raiders in 2019. Since then, he’s been active in 28 games, starting one game during the 2019 season. At 23-years old, the Raiders believe he is their future center, but the team did sign Nick Martin earlier this offseason to compete with him at that spot.
Time will tell if the Raiders made the right decision here by going with James over Hudson. But one thing is clear; Mike Mayock, Jon Gruden and Tom Cable have a lot of faith that James will be a quality player sooner rather than later in the NFL.
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