The Oakland Raiders lost a major part of their offense this off season when former back up running back Michael Bush signed a free agent contract with the Chicago Bears. Since then, the Raiders traded for running back Mike Goodson, leaving the Raiders with starter Darren McFadden, back ups Mike Goodson and Taiwan Jones as well as stud full back Marcel Reese.
While Goodson provides a quality back up to the Raiders, he does not fill the same role that the Bush did during his time with the Raiders. Goodson is a speedy back, closer to the style of running that Taiwan Jones does. The Raiders are still in need of a big bodied bruising back to take care of short yardage situations and to eat clock late in games. Earlier this week, Cedric Benson expressed an interest in replacing Bush in Oakland. Now, however, it appears as though the Raiders are more interested in former Packers starter, Ryan Grant.
Grant is a solid running back, but he has struggled to find success after getting injured during the Packers Super Bowl season. Since then, he has lost a large amount of playing time to James Starks. While Grant does not have the off the field issues that Benson has had, he also has not had the same kind of recent success that Benson has had. Either way though, it will be hard for anyone to complain about signing a former starting running as your back up.