Raiders trade late-round pick for Matt Schaub

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The world's been holding its collective breath, wondering when Matt Schaub will be released by the Texans. Turns out he won't. He's being traded to Oakland instead.

The Raiders officially announced on Friday that they've added Schaub. According to NFL.com, Oakland gave up a sixth-round pick for the Texans quarterback.

With Terrelle Pryor, Matt McGloin and Trent Edwards on the depth chart, it stands to reason that Schaub will become the likely starter for 2014.

It's no guarantee, however. After all the Raiders gave up low-round picks prior to last year in order to acquire Matt Flynn from the Seahawks and he ended up starting for the Bills and then the Packers before the season ended.

But the Raiders draft dynamic certainly changes. Three of our 2014 NFL Mock Drafts had the Raiders taking a quarterback (specifically, Johnny Manziel) in our latest update. Oakland still needs a passer of the future but Schaub's presence means they could take talent over need when No. 5 rolls around, or even trade down and gamble that a passer will land in their lap later.

And rip Schaub all you want (or set his jersey on fire or mock him with mean meat advertisments) but he's a quarterback who's capable of winning games, or at the very least managing them.

The 2013 season was a nightmare for him but if he returns to the form he had in the previous four years this will look like a smart deal for the Raiders.

Matt Schaub's reportedly been traded to the Raiders. (USATSI)

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Chargers GM: Ryan Mathews is still our bell cow RB



Ryan Mathews carried the ball 285 times last season, fourth-most in the NFL. Allhough injuries have certainly been a problem for him, both he and Danny Woodhead had career years for the Chargers in 2013. So why would the team go out and give Donald Brown a three-year deal to be a third wheel? Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said Wednesday it was about giving the offense more options, and he insinuated Brown's presence will not lead to a decreased workload for Mathews."We know Ryan is our bell cow," Telesco said during a radio interview. "He's our No. 1 back. He had an excellent year last year. And we all know what Danny Woodhead can do in his role. We saw that for 16 games last year. And we think Donald can come in and add to that, too, and give us some different options. And a different style, too. The more weapons we can have for Philip Rivers, the better."



All of this leads me to believe that Brown will be a younger edition of Ronnie Brown this season. He'll block, catch a couple of passes, and come in when Mathews needs a breather, If Mathews stays healthy, Brown will end up being an expensive insurance policy, but history tells us that the Chargers needed another between-the-tackles runner in the event that Mathews' health in 2013 turns out to be an outlier. But until an injury occurs, Mathews is a solid RB2, Woodhead is a solid RB2 in PPR leagues only, and Brown has minimal value in any format.