Marcel Reece: Raiders must be bold

ByPAUL GUTIERREZ
March 9, 2014, 9:25 AM

— -- OAKLAND, Calif. -- Free agency begins Tuesday and Oakland Raiders Pro Bowl fullback Marcel Reece has some advice for general manager Reggie McKenzie.

"What I want to see Reggie do, and I'll be honest with you, just like I'll be honest with him, I want him to be fearless," Reece said Saturday night at the team's Commitment to Excellence dinner. "I want to not worry about anybody else. I want him to be fearless and, let's go for it right now.

"No safe moves. I don't want safe moves. I want smart, calculated, fearless, Raider-ass moves that you don't care about anything else. Just winning. And that's what we want to do. Right now."

Said McKenzie: "What I want to do is make this team better. And that's what we're going to set out to do this Tuesday and really, not waiting until Tuesday but, just with our own team, just trying to get things done. We want to upgrade this football team and we intend to do that."

The Raiders will have about $65 million in salary cap space and will have 17 unrestricted free agents. Reece, who won the Commitment to Excellence Award on voting by teammates, said he had been "recruiting" scheduled free agents, though he would not divulge names.

"I've been in constant contact with them and if they get here, they'll let you know," Reece said. "And Reggie will let you know that I was on him, and Mark [Davis] will let you know that I was on him. We've got to take care of home [free agents] first but then once free agency hits, we're going to get after anybody and everybody who's willing to come here.

"Not for the money. Not because they see a cap space number. But because they want to be a part of this -- this tradition, this franchise -- and they want to win."