On Day 3 of Seymour Watch 2009 the news is more of the same: Richard Seymour still has not reported, the Raiders have no idea when he'll show up (if at all), and quickly Oakland is realizing they may have made a huge mistake.
After Tuesday's practice, coach Tom Cable said he didn't want to comment on the trade "...until we have something that's done and concrete." But if you asked the Patriots -- and the NFL, which signed off on the deal on Sunday -- the trade has been completed for days (New England filled Seymour's roster spot hours after the trade was announced). As a surprise to probably absolutely no one, the Patriots are no longer commenting on it, with Bill Belichick saying, “[W]e don’t have the rights to Richard.”
But not so fast. According to Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk, the Raiders are set to ask for that first-round pick back if Seymour never shows.
But despite reports suggesting that Seymour is now the Raiders' problem, a league source tells us that the Raiders will want to retrieve their draft pick, if Seymour doesn't show.I'm no NFL legal expert, but with the deal already having earned the approval of the league, coupled with the fact that the Raiders have already added Seymour to their 53-man roster, Oakland may just be grasping at straws at this point.The trade hinges on Seymour reporting for work and passing a physical. If he doesn't show up and then pass a physical, he doesn't become the property of the Raiders.
The Patriots likely would take a different view of the situation, claiming that once the trade is accomplished getting Seymour to show up becomes the Raiders' problem.