ALAMEDA
Vontaze Burfict Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Jordy Nelson's debut season in Oakland didn't go exactly as he hoped when he signed with the Raiders following
10 years in Green Bay.A team he hoped would be good enough to contend for the
playoffs went into rebuilding mode instead. He dealt with knee injuries that
hampered him early in the season, and it took time for him to build up a rapport
with Derek Carr after so many years of catching passes from Aaron Rodgers.But
the results have been there in recent weeks as a healthy Nelson has been a
staple of Oakland's offense. "It's just time. It takes time. Nothing happens
overnight," Nelson said Wednesday. "We just continue to work at it. It's
chemistry, its confidence with me in him and him in me. It just takes time. It
was nothing I was worried about."After catching five passes in a span of five
games and missing another with a knee injury, Nelson has been prolific of late,
starting with a 10-catch performance against Kansas City earlier this month. He
has 29 catches for 308 yards the past four games, ranking tied for eighth in the
NFL in catches and 12th in yards over that span."Anytime you get new receivers
and they're going to be a focal point, it does take some time," Carr said. "I
would say that, especially when he came off his injury, he was healthy and we
had a lot of time on task. Obviously, I trust him. He's a great receiver. I
think a lot of that has to do with once he got healthy, he was ready to roll. It
was really that Colts game where I felt like we were ready to hit it rolling.
Then he ended up hitting his knee or whatever and he was out. When he got
healthy, just ever since then, he's a trustworthy guy that does things the right
way. Usually guys like that, the ball ends up finding them."Nelson signed a
$14.2 million, two-year contract with Oakland in March after being cut by the
Packers. Nelson has no guaranteed money for next season until March and the
Raiders could cut him before then with no penalty if they decide to move on from
his $7.2 million salary cap hit.Nelson essentially replaced Michael Crabtree,
who was cut by the Raiders and then signed with Baltimore this past offseason,
and the two have matched production. Nelson has 54 catches for 661 yards and
three TDs, slightly ahead of Crabtree's 52 catches for 587 yards and three
scores for the Ravens.While Nelson knows he's near the end of his career at age
33, he's not quite ready to retire and hopes to be back with the Raiders in
2019."I plan to," he said. "It's not always the player's decision. But that's
the plan. We've enjoyed our time out here so far, enjoyed the team and starting
the rebuilding process and being a part of that. I believe that's the plan."It's
a new experience for Nelson after being with a Packers team that made the
playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons in Green Bay. He almost always played in
games with playoff implications before joining a Raiders team that began this
year 1-8.But Nelson has played his best down the stretch when the games have had
little meaning, and he takes pride in the performance of the entire team the
past few weeks when it would have been easy to pack it in.The Raiders (4-11)
have won three of their past six games and head into the season finale at Kansas
City looking to build on that performance with something they can carry into
next season.Nelson has relished his role as a mentor to young receivers like
rookie Marcell Ateman after being the beneficiary of that when he entered the
league alongside Packers veterans Donald Driver, James Jones, Greg Jennings and
Ruvell Martin."I think a lot of guys can take pride in that
Seth Roberts Jersey ," Nelson said. "It's hard to do. You can get in a lull and just wish for the season to go by and not really worry about it. There are a lot
of guys who have stayed true to the course and taken a lot of pride in their
performance and have gotten a little bit of a taste of it. … As much fun as you
try to have playing football, if you're not winning it's not that much fun." The
NFL doesn’t want Raiders receiver Antonio Brown to wear the Schutt AiR
Advantage, even though the Schutt AiR Advantage was never banned by the NFL,
until Antonio Brown found a loophole in the league’s helmet protocol that would
allow him to replace his more-than-10-years-old Schutt AiR Advantage with a
version less than 10 yers old.At best, confusion abounds regarding whether and
to what extent the league informed Brown’s representatives that the Schutt AiR
Advantage would be subject to testing if Brown intends to wear one that is less
than 10 years old, and thus suitable for NOCSAE certification. At worst, someone
isn’t being truthful about who said what to whom and when as the loophole was
being exploited by Brown’s representatives.On Monday, a reader named Tim
Fernandez informed me that NOCSAE executive director Michael Oliver explained
that the group would consider for certification any Schutt AiR Advantage that is
less than 10 years old. After confirming with Oliver that he indeed had taken
that position, I informed Brown’s camp of this apparent loophole.I also asked
the league whether a Schutt AiR Advantage that was less than 10 years old and
that was certified by NOCSAE could be worn by Brown. In response, the league
didn’t say “yes” and the league didn’t say “no.” Instead, the league sent the
graphic showing the banned helmet models for 2019 and the list of preferred
models, without any additional comment. The Schutt AiR Advantage appears nowhere
on that graphic.On Monday night, a source with knowledge of the situation told
PFT that the Raiders had informed Brown that the league would allow him to wear
a Schutt AiR Advantage that was certified by NOCSAE. There was no mention that
the Schutt AiR Advantage would have to independently pass NFL/NFLPA helmet
testing.And so Brown embarked on a search for Schutt AiR Advantage helmets less
than 10 years old. He found “a few” that had been made in 2010. Eventually, he
found one that had been made in 2014, for a film. Through it all, and despite
numerous PFT posts on the issue and a direct question that was never directly
answered, the NFL said nothing to me about a requirement that the Schutt AiR
Advantage must separately pass helmet testing before Brown can wear the
helmet.Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL found its own 2011
version of the Schutt AiR Advantage, the NFL tested it on Thursday and Friday,
and it did not pass. The NFL believes that any/all Schutt AiR Advantage helmets
made within the last 10 years would also not pass.Brown’s camp insists that the
Raiders said on Monday night that, if Brown finds a Schutt AiR Advantage made
within the last 10 years and if NOCSAE recertifies it, Brown would be permitted
to wear the helmet in practices and games. Brown’s camp also insists that the
NFL said nothing about a general requirement that the Schutt AiR Advantage be
tested before Brown can wear it. Brown’s camp now believes that the NFL rushed
to test the Schutt AiR Advantage specifically to keep Brown from wearing it,
without the grace period that others (like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady) were
able to utilize before permanently ditching their helmets.So a messy situation
has gotten even messier, and the inescapable conclusion is that the NFL has done
whatever it had to do to keep Brown from wearing the Schutt AiR Advantage, even
though the Schutt AiR Advantage had never been banned by the NFL until Brown
found one that was less than 10 years old and thus able to be worn in practices
and games.
