The Oakland Raiders provided some good and bad news on Thursday ahead of their matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The #Raiders have officially designated OT Donald Penn for return off Injured Reserve. That opens his window and closes another. This is their second player off IR… and means Marshawn Lynch won’t play again in 2018. We may have seen him on the field for the last time.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 6, 2018
Offensive tackle Donald Penn has only appeared and started in four games for the Raiders this season while running back Marshawn Lynch was on the field for six games this season.
Penn suffered a groin injury back in early October in Oakland's first win of the season as they beat the Cleveland Browns in overtime. Now that Penn is 35 years old, his reliability on the field is growing a bit questionable. Penn has rarely missed games over the years, in fact the only two games he has missed in his career since becoming a starter in the league were both last season.
Marshawn Lynch can presumably say goodbye to his hopes of returning in 2018 with Penn's activation. It's also likely Lynch would have to think about his future days on the field altogether after landing on the injured reserve this season. Lynch suffered a groin injury against his former team, the Seattle Seahawks, and this may have been his last game in the NFL considering “Beast Mode” has already retired once before. Lynch was having a surprisingly solid season and was Oakland's lone bright spot on this season's depleted roster.
It's clear the direction in which head coach Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders are heading toward. Seeing as the Raiders have now accumulated a fair share of draft picks, the Raiders are likely looking to start fresh and acquire several potential young stars through the drafting process.