Tyler Linderbaum was a wish-listed name that LA Chargers fans kept a close eye on heading into NFL free agency. However, as it became more apparent that Linderbaum would shatter the existing center market, the signing itself became less palatable.
As such, the Chargers worked quickly to sign Tyler Biadasz to a three-year, $30 million contract before free agency began. He doesn't have the same ceiling as Linderbaum, but at that price, the impact may be just as big as the Chargers can use the financial savings to make other additions.
Linderbaum himself wasted no time cashing out once the legal tampering window opened on Monday. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Linderbaum agreed to a three-year, $81 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders. It may seem painful for Chargers fans at first, but in reality, all this does is justify what the Bolts have done to this point.
Chargers fans should be laughing at Raiders' Tyler Linderbaum signing
To be clear, this isn't an indictment of Linderbaum as a player. He is a great young center and we have been on the record and said as much here on Bolt Beat. It would be disingenuous to build up Linderbaum as a target only to pretend like he can't play now that he is on the Raiders.
However, the Chargers and Raiders are in very different positions. Los Angeles is much more of a finished product with the pillars of Super Bowl contention in place. It still would have been a pretty big overpay to give Linderbaum that much money, but if there is a team that can justify it, it's a contending team.
The Raiders aren't in the same place. They have been an NFL bottom feeder for years, that spring after spring convinces itself it has found the new formula to instant success. From Josh McDaniel all the way to Geno Smith and Pete Carroll, everything the Raiders have tried has failed.
And yes, there is more promise this year than in previous years because they have the No. 1 overall pick and Fernando Mendoza. They have young offensive weapons and a head coach who just won the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator. Vegas also has a lot of draft capital after trading away Maxx Crosby, which helps the rebuild.
But that's just the problem: Does signing Linderbaum improve a bad Raiders defense that just lost its best player? No. This is a Raiders roster with a lot of holes, and just like they did with Chandler Jones and Christian Wilkins in the past, the Raiders spent a large chunk of their capital on one player.
That strategy has not worked for the Raiders multiple times now, and it's hard to imagine it working now, regardless of how talented Linderbaum is. This is a team that is a few years away from actually contending, and that's assuming Mendoza can actually make the leap to the NFL and Klint Kubiak can be a good head coach.
Will Linderbaum be an upgrade at center and improve the offensive line? Undoubtedly. Was it the best way for the Raiders to spend their cap space? Probably not.