Seymour Shows, and Puts on a Show in Oakland

So apparently we're all to believe that Richard Seymour had no qualms about going to Oakland, but was simply "blindsided" by the trade and caught in some kind of frozen state of shock for the past few days. Yeah, sorry Seymour, we ain't buyin' it.

Per Seymour:

"Since I got the call that I was being traded, my life's really been a whirlwind," Seymour said Saturday night at his introductory press conference. "I've really been blindsided by the events that took place. I didn't expect it. I didn't understand what was going on. So it's like when something happens, when you're blindsided, you have to step back and realize what situation you're in."

So, yeah. Not buyin' it.

If Seymour really didn't mind going to Oakland, he wouldn't have stayed in Massachusetts while the NFLPA filed a grievance in his interest and created all this controversy. He would have been on the first plane to Oakland the next day and this would be a non-story (besides the fact that the Raiders traded a first-round pick to have a 30-year old player for one year).

The truth is that Seymour thought he might get an extension from the Patriots so when he was traded to Oakland, he may have honestly been blindsided. However, this is the same guy who held out twice during his tenure in Foxboro, always threatening to sit out the season, so not playing for the Patriots was something he'd always considered.

And come to think of it, did he really expect to stay in Foxboro?

"I talked to him months ago and he felt like this was on the horizon," former Pats teammate Ty Warren said in the wake of the deal. "With this being his last year, his cap number, all the stuff... pretty much the writing on the wall. He knew it was on the horizon, he just didn't know how it was going to come."

Where he'll fit in on that team, on the field and in the locker room, is still to be seen, and could be an interesting thing to watch as the season progresses because odds are he's going to get slapped with the franchise tag next year. The Raiders know he won't sign a long-term deal, but if he gets the tag he basically has the same choices as he did this year. Sign and play, or sit.

Or perhaps the Raiders said they wouldn't franchise him, which is what got him to Oakland. Well, either way, making a deal with Al Davis is like making a deal with the devil. Expect Seymour to get the tag next year, regardless of what Davis may or may not have told him.

It looks like the Raiders circus continues, as do the fantastic moves coming out of Foxboro.