Raiders

Was It Wise For Raiders To Part Ways With S Jeff Heath?

Will the Las Vegas Raiders end up regretting releasing their best safety from last season in veteran Jeff Heath?

In a move that possibly surprised some, the Silver and Black decided to part ways with Heath. A special teams’ standout with the Dallas Cowboys, the Saginaw Valley State product played 13 games last year. One of the many heroes in the team’s upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, he posted solid numbers. He totaled three interceptions, four passes defended, and 28 solo tackles. In a year where opponents demolished the pass defense, Heath did his best when targeted. He surrendered 12 completions off of 19 targets and gave up one touchdown in coverage.

According to Pro Football Focus, Heath had a solid showing playing free safety last year. He posted a 72.8 overall grade with a solid 65.8 run defense grade and 72.8 in the coverage department. Nevertheless, it appears that Las Vegas opted to go a different route for this season.

[pickup_prop id=”6923″]

What might’ve led to Heath’s release from the Raiders?

The recent infusion of rookies to the team probably signaled that the Raiders were completely rebuilding their defense. It appears Johnathan Abram might be the only remnant from last year’s squad. Karl Joseph also returned to Las Vegas in free agency. With speedy, and more importantly, versatile youngsters such as Tyree Gillespie and Divine Deablo joining the team, the writing was on the wall.

On a side note, it’s worth noting that Heath was set to make $3.15 million this year per Spotrac, so money surely played a role. By bringing in veteran cornerback Casey Hayward, it might’ve been a simple case of pick and choose. However, it surely must’ve been disappointing news for Heath considering that general manager Mike Mayock publicly vouched for the safety recently. As for the Raiders, the show goes on as Gus Bradley is slowly getting enough pieces to assemble a solid unit.

You May Also Like: Could Raiders End Up Regretting Passing Up OT Christian Darrisaw?

*Top Photo: Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Join The Ramble Email List

4 thoughts on “Was It Wise For Raiders To Part Ways With S Jeff Heath?”

  1. I like Heath and although he’s underrated he’s not worth 3.5 M. More like 1M with incentives to 2M total. So if he wants to resign great if not time to roll with the young bucks and say thanks you to Mr Heath for his service. No hard feelings

  2. This is just another example of the stupidity infecting the Raiders. Heath was actually one of the better safeties in the league last year, and is always a great contributor on special teams. Given the train wreck in the secondary last year and the influx of rookies, a little veteran stability would be nice. And Mullen, Arnette, and Abram aren’t providing that.

  3. Wes still have a 3rd string RB on books for 3M, and I believe they guaranteed Nevin Lawson a couple Mill. That Lawson. Also gave 5th string WR from last year, a similar amount. If money is a deciding issue, all three should have been cut before Heath. Raiders have a lot of injuries, could have restructured w/ Incentives, to keep him.

Share your thoughts here, Raider Nation...

error: Nice Try!
Subscribe to RaiderRamble

Get updates from RaiderRamble via email:

Join 5,853 other subscribers