NFL Free Agency 2016: Free Agent Tackle Donald Penn To Visit New York Giants

UPDATE (3/16, 11:59am): Welp, it appears Donal Penn leaked to media that he’d be visiting New York Giants to get the Oakland Raiders to make an offer and it worked…

#Raiders and LT Donald Penn have agreed on a 2-year deal worth $14M, source said. The first year, roughly $7M, is guaranteed.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 16, 2016

We listed Oakland Raiders free agent tackle Donald Penn as one of the top free agents the New York Giants should target back in early January, the week after the regular season ended. On that post, we got a comment from user ‘pridenpoise’ that “Donald Penn isn’t going anywhere”. But, it appears a source has informed NFL insider Ian Rappaport that since the veteran offensive lineman has reached a stalemate with the Raiders over his new contract, he’ll begin to visit some other teams, one of which will be Big Blue.

Source: #Raiders LT Donald Penn is slated to visit #Giants today, his 1st free agent visit. Penn & OAK are locked in a contract stalemate
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2016

Penn has only missed four games in his 9 year career and hasn’t missed a start since 2007. His best season came with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010 when he made the Pro Bowl and accrued an approximate value of 11 according to Pro Football Reference. Donald’s also had a catch in each of his last three seasons. Possible eligible receiver on goal line situations?

A couple weeks ago, FanSided speculated that if Penn leaves Oakland, he could sign with the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, or San Diego Chargers.

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Oakland made a big splash in free agency by signing 26 year old Baltimore Ravens left tackle Kelechi Osemele to a five year contract worth $58.5 million. Penn will turn 33 on April 27th. Prior to the 2014 season, Penn signed a two-year deal worth $9.6 million with $4.2 million guaranteed. Spotrac estimated Penn’s initial market value is 2 years, approximately $14 million, but after reviewing free agents contracts from similar players, Penn could get as much as $9 million per year over a couple seasons. Penn also had the highest true value rating of any tackle taking at least 25% of his team’s snaps, clocking in 92.63 while being on the field for almost 93% of offensive plays. And, that’s with an annual average salary of around $4.8 million, which is 27th highest among tackles in the league.

Three months ago, Pro Football Focus put Donald on their list of 10 Best Offensive Free Agents About To Hit the Market. About a month later, PFF placed Penn on their list of Top 10 Offensive Line Free Agents. Just last week, Penn topped the list of top free agent tackles. He started off free agency as #13 on PFF’s list of top 75 free agents.

Of course, Russell Okung visited the Giants this past week, but I would think the fact he hasn’t started a full season would deter the G-Men even if he is only 28 years old. To me, Penn makes sense as a transitional player that can hand the torch to the tackle drafted by the Giants this April.

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