For anyone outside the organization wondering if the Raiders would be rudderless and stagnant in the absence of Al Davis, the team had an answer Wednesday: linebacker Aaron Curry.
Oakland traded a seventh-round pick in 2012 and a conditional mid-round pick in 2013 (which will depend on Curry’s performance and playing time) for Curry, according to ESPN.
Curry, the fourth overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks out of Wake Forest in 2009, had lost his starting job at outside linebacker in Seattle.
At Wake Forest, he was the Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker, and the 6-foot-2, 255-pounder is considered strong and athletic, capable of playing either the strong or weak outside linebacker spots.
In Seattle, however, Curry’s play was disappointing, and he hadn’t lived up to expectations. He’s had just 5½ sacks in his two-plus seasons and his performance in pass coverage in particular was a weakness, according to several reports.
“It’s a new beginning for him and hopefully he steps to the plate,” Seahawks linebacker Leroy Hill told reporters. “I think down there (Oakland) he won’t have all those high expectations that he had here so he can relax and just play ball.”
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Vittorio Tafur noted the acquisition is typical of past Raiders moves.
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“The Raiders’ first post-Al Davis move was very Al Davis-like,” he wrote, noting that Davis loved to acquire former first-round picks who hadn’t lived up to expectations elsewhere. Current quarterback Jason Campbell, for instance, was a disappointing first-round pick of the Redskins, and Jim Plunkett was a Patriots cast-off who won two Super Bowls at quarterback in Oakland.
Raiders head coach Hue Jackson is making the football personnel decisions for the organization in the short term, Tafur reported.
Curry becomes the 12th first-round pick on the current Oakland roster.
A Raiders official said the trade will become official once Curry passes a physical and the NFL approves the deal.
It’s expected Curry could see action this Sunday against the Browns at O.co Coliseum.
Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. told ESPN that the Raiders’ pick-up is a low-risk move, with potential for a high upside.
“I would not object to any team adding him,” Williamson wrote. “He has a very diverse skill set. Seattle has not handled him well from a scheme perspective and he deserves his share of the blame, too, for not living up to expectations. But Curry seems like a terrific risk for Oakland.”
