This isn't an Art Shell move, it's an Al Davis move and it stinks. More on this later.
Raiders' Porter suspended four games
ESPN.com news services
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders suspended disgruntled wide receiver Jerry Porter for four games without pay Saturday for conduct detrimental to the team.
Porter, when contacted by ESPN for a response, offered a "no comment."
The suspension, which will likely be appealed by the union, would cost Porter slightly over $235,000 in salary. Sources said Porter was informed of the decision on Friday.
Porter, Oakland's leading receiver a year ago, was inactive for the first four games of the season after clashing with new coach Art Shell and making public a trade demand at the start of training camp. The Raiders granted Porter and his agent, Joel Segal, permission to seek a trade.
"It's crazy," Porter said of his situation earlier this week. "I pretty much stay quiet and do what I'm asked. What am I supposed to do? I'm playing the cards the way they're dealt to me."
The Raiders were traveling to Denver on Saturday for Sunday night's game against the Broncos and unavailable for comment on the decision to suspend Porter.
Porter has been working with the scout team in practice, falling behind unheralded receivers Alvis Whitted and Johnnie Morant on the depth chart as Oakland opened the season 0-4. Whitted, who took Porter's spot in the starting lineup, has six catches for 70 yards, while Morant has no catches as the team's fourth receiver.
Porter has been on the sideline during the four losses to open the season, often seen joking around while the Raiders have struggled on offense without him.
Some players have questioned the decision to sit Porter while the team has struggled mightily on offense, but Shell has stuck to the decision. Shell has refused to elaborate on why Porter has been inactive.
"He's working. It's not that he's not working," Shell said earlier this week. "I've never said he hasn't worked. He's doing what he's asked to do and you can't ask for anything more than that."
Porter, in the second year of a five-year contract worth $20 million, had been hoping to be dealt before Tuesday's trade deadline.
Porter led the Raiders with 76 catches last season and had 942 yards receiving and five touchdown receptions in 2005.
Porter, a second-round pick out of West Virginia in 2000, has 239 catches for 3,215 yards and 24 touchdowns in six seasons with the Raiders. He has never reached 1,000 yards receiving in a season, missing the mark narrowly with 998 yards in 2004 and 942 last season.
Porter will be eligible to return from the suspension Nov. 12 when the Raiders host the Broncos.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this repo
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