The Oakland/LA Raiders have a long and glorious tradition of scooping up players that the San Francisco 49ers no longer want — often with good results. Some of the biggest names have been Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice and Roger Craig. If you were a 49ers quarterback, you eventually went to the Chiefs. Other positions, you often ended up with the Raiders.
Now Aldon Smith joins that club. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report was the first to report that Smith — who was jettisoned from San Francisco due to a series of run-ins with law enforcement — would be signing a one-year deal with Oakland.
Smith will be eligible to play on Sunday. But he could still face NFL discipline in the future, if Roger Goodell is feeling lucky, that is.
Cole has long-time ties with Bay Area sports — he started his career at the Peninsula Times-Tribune in Palo Alto.
Since BleacherReport is breaking the news on Aldon Smith signing with the Raiders, can we get a slideshow of all his recent arrests?
— Seattle Sportsnet (@alexSSN) September 11, 2015