The Oakland Raiders announced Monday that they’ve officially signed veteran LB Derrick Johnson to a contract and placed CB Darius Hillary on waivers in a corresponding move.
The Raiders brought Johnson in for a visit last Thursday, which happened to be the first reported interest in Johnson since he became available.
What’s interesting is that Oakland decided not to re-sign NaVorro Bowman and instead go with Johnson. Salary demands likely factored into the team’s decision, but it’s still somewhat surprising.
Johnson, 35, is a former first-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2005. He was entering in the second year of his three-year, $21 million contract that includes $9.75 million guaranteed when he agreed to a pay cut last year that reduced his base salary from $4.75 million to $1 million.
Johnson received a $1 million signing bonus as part of the renegotiation.
In 2017, Johnson appeared in 15 games and recorded 71 tackles, a forced fumble, a recovery and seven pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 33 linebacker out of 88 qualifying players.
We had him featured in our Top 50 Available 2018 NFL Free Agents list.
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