After five seasons with the Oakland Raiders, veteran running back Darren McFadden is entering the sixth and final year of his deal with the team. Although McFadden is considered one of the best players in the NFL at his position when healthy, the Arkansas product has struggled to stay on the field over the past five years.
With McFadden unable to stay healthy or play an entire 16-game season throughout his career in Oakland, a long-term future with the Raiders has been shrouded in uncertainty.
Reportedly, McFadden wants to remain with the Raiders on a long-term basis if the team will have him, according to Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com:
“I love being a Raider,” McFadden said. “As long as they want to bring me back and have me here for as long as they want to have me – I love being a Raider, and I’m here.”
Initially, reports surfaced about McFadden being reluctant to re-sign with the team and wanted to prove himself over the course of the 2013 NFL season.
The Raiders thought to be interested initiating contract extension talks before the season got underway, but doesn’t appear to be the case with the team wanting McFadden to prove his worth as he fully intends to do.
It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out this season with the team going through an extensive rebuilding process and potentially heading in another direction if McFadden is unable to convince the Raiders to re-sign him long-term.
