There are few stories better than one of redemption, and for Richie Incognito, he has found just that with the Oakland Raiders.
Incognito has had his fair share of ups and downs throughout his long career. He decided to hang it up after the 2017 season, but wanted to give it one more go this year. Thankfully, the Raiders were willing to take a chance on him despite his storied past and a two-game suspension to begin the year.
The Raiders’ gamble paid off as Incognito proved to be one of the team’s better offensive lineman. Thanks to his excellent work protecting Derek Carr, the Raiders recently inked Incognito to a two-year contract extension to keep him around as they get set to move to Las Vegas. One person who is happy about the extension is Raiders head coach Jon Gruden as he shared high praise for the veteran left guard, via Matthew Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Gruden on Incognito extension: “He’s a leader on this team. He’s an excellent player. He has a lot of life in his legs and his body. He has a passion to still keep going. And we think he’s one of the best interior players in football.” #Raiders
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) December 30, 2019
When Incognito initially signed with the Raiders, Gruden described his one-year contract as a “prove it deal”. Clearly Incognito proved it, helping to protect Carr and allowing the Raiders to have a solid offense for the first time in a few years.
In 2018, Carr was sacked 51 times, third-most in the league. This year, he was sacked only 29 times while the Raiders totaled 11th-most yards in the league.
Incognito’s addition alone did not transform the Raiders entirely. They also brought in Trent Williams to help complete the right side of the line, and Kolton Miller proved to be a great left tackle after a solid vote of confidence by Gruden earlier in the offseason.
Incognito also proved that he can control his temper, something that plagued him for much of his career. This year Incognito didn’t appear to have any on or off-field incidents. Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue, especially as he will hope to be a leader for many of the other young offensive linemen in the organization.
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