The Oakland Raiders will re-sign offensive tackle Donald Penn on a two-year, $14 million deal with $7 million guaranteed, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. After spending the first seven years of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 32-year-old veteran joined the Oakland Raiders prior to the 2014 season and spent the last two seasons with the Silver and Black. Penn had a visit scheduled with the New York Giants, but opted to re-sign with Oakland instead.
Donald Penn re-signs with Raiders
Penn has started 140 straight regular season games dating back to his rookie year in 2007.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Penn is the definition of durability in the NFL. He’s played in all 16 games in each year that he has been in the league -- starting all but four of them -- and per Pro Football Focus, has missed just 52 total offensive snaps out of nearly 8,500 over the past eight seasons. Penn’s streak of 140 consecutive regular season games started is the third-longest among active offensive lineman. He made his only Pro Bowl in 2010.
The former undrafted free agent out of Utah State has held up well as both a run blocker and pass protector throughout his career, and last season finished 11th overall among tackles in Pro Football Focus’ ratings. He earned positive run-blocking grades from PFF in each of his nine pro campaigns and is coming off his two highest-graded pass-blocking seasons as a pro.
Although Penn might be past his prime, he remains one of the most underrated tackles in the league and still represents a reliable option to hold down the left side of the offensive line for at least a few more seasons.
The Raiders also acquired guard Kelechi Osemele via free agency on a five-year, $58.5 million deal, and while Osemele has the versatility to play tackle, retaining Penn allows them to keep Osemele on the interior line. Retaining Penn gives Oakland's line some continuity, and adding Osemele strengthens a unit that needed to be shored up heading into the 2016 season.
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