Never Mind, The Raiders Actually Want Martavis Bryant Now

The Oakland Raiders dropped wide receiver Martavis Bryant 11 days ago, insisting at the time that the guy they traded a third-round pick for on draft night wasn’t released because of a possible drug suspension, but rather because he wasn’t very good and kept missing practice. Now, they’ve taken him back. Bryant signed a one-year deal with the Raiders today, a day after NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Bryant had returned to the Raiders facility to practice and hammer out an agreement.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that Bryant faces a year-long suspension for a failed offseason drug test. The league could make its decision before the Raiders play the Broncos on Sunday. It seems that Oakland’s lack of wideout production on Monday night—Jordy Nelson and Amari Cooper combined for four catches and 32 yards—outweighed the possibility of losing Bryant until 2019. Only took a week and a half to figure it out!

Head coach Jon Gruden was asked whether surrendering the 79th overall pick for a guy who may legitimately never take the field for the Raiders was wise, and he responded by pointing out that the Raiders always screw up and waste picks anyway:

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think the guy is a superb talent. The guy has great talent. We released our second-round draft choice last year and the year before and the year before that. Not everything is a perfect science, but we’ll be criticized for that. It was a risk I thought well worth taking.”

Let’s conclude with one more dank Raiders item: