Oakland Raiders Release Stanford Routt

File this under: Pretty Damn Shocking. Before last season, the Oakland Raiders signed CB Stanford Routt to a five-year, $54.5 million contract with roughly $20 million in guarantees. That’s a nice chunk of dough.

So while we aren’t sure why just yet, we did see that the Raiders have released Routt, just one year after signing that big deal.

Was the move financial? Could have been. Maybe they didn’t like that he was the most penalized player in the NFL. When you’re a corner, those penalties can be for large chunks.

Still, he is their best cornerback, even if he didn’t deserve to get paid all that money. I’m anxious to hear the explanation for this. It may be as simple as the new Raiders regime not wanting to keep a big contract from the old regime.

Stay tuned.