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A brief explanation of why we didn't cover the Richard Seymour story in this space—in a word, it was reported in excruciating detail in virtually all the football media, and there was little or nothing we could have added. We're happy to know he grew up a Raiders fan. We hadn't known that previously and were originally inclined to think that a player who'd been with such a successful franchise as New England has been most of this decade would be extraordinarily hesitant to come to Oakland, the losingest team in the NFL the past six years.
This is one occasion we're happy to be wrong! 
Someone had to go to create the active roster spot for Seymour, and, as we expected, it was DT William Joseph again. There had been some speculation (by Jerry McDonald, among others) that instead of Joseph, WR Javon Walker might be put on IR. (Active roster or IR, he's guaranteed $4.6M over this year and next.) But we think that, at least as a general rule, Al Davis fancies the skill positions more than the grunts.
Let's see if the defensive unit plays with more heart tonight with Seymour on the team.
ESPN reported on Tuesday that the Raiders restructured the contracts of T Cornell Green and G Paul McQuistan to accomodate Richard Seymour's $3.7 million salary. His cap number could go either up or down if a new deal is done, depending on the terms.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
We're not sure if the last name of the newest member of Oakland's practice squad is spelled Scheuning or Schuening. (We've seen both.) Whatever, he'll wear No. 67. That number was vacated by Desmond Bryant to take No. 90, formerly worn by Terdell Sands.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
Raiders.com has unveiled a brand new format, and we like it! It's much less dense than the previous design, sports a slideshow with rotating photos (like most other teams' sites), and no longer attempts to cram the entire design into one screenful. Where all the contrast with black was shiny grey before, now there's white—a scheme that's much easier on the eyes. Check it out!
By the way, if you had particular pages bookmarked before, e.g., transactions or the roster, be aware that the URLs have all changed. Gone is the Active Server Page scheme (files ending in aspx), replaced by a more standard html scheme.
From the San Jose Mercury News:
The Raiders signed to their practice squad offensive lineman Roy Schuening, 25. He was a fifth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2008. He played in one game last season but was released Saturday. He plays guard and center.
The National Football Post site reported early this afternoon (Pacific time) that DT Alfonso Boone is headed for Oakland and is expected to be offered a contract by the Raiders. Boone was cut two days ago by Kansas City. Apparently Carolina and Chicago are also interested in Boone, but the Silver and Black have the inside track.
You can read the NFP report here.
Where Are They Now Dept.: Punter Glenn Pakulak, who had two stints on the Oakland roster, was cut by the Jets.
We've always wondered why he doesn't stick with a team. He punted very well as a Raider. Were not All-World Shane Lechler already a Raider, Pakulak might well have secured a permanent spot with the team. Or at least as permanent spot as a mere kicker ever has in the NFL.
Source(s): National Football Post
Chris O'Neill proved to be right—he was signed Saturday morning at the expense of LB Napoleon Harris. Harris's stay in Oakland lasted all of four days.
This is only a guess on our part, but could it be that Harris was unwilling (or unable) to play special teams effectively? That's usually where backup linebackers and tight ends see the bulk of their action. And an older player (like Harris) might not want to assume the risk of injury.
A few days back we promised some more on DT Joe Cohen. He could be gone very quickly, what with the mandatory roster cuts just around the corner, but we'll pass on what we found.
Cohen was drafted out of Florida in the fourth round (135 overall) by San Francisco in 2007. Envisioned to be a run-stopper, he suffered a season-ending knee injury during that exhibition season and was waived by the 49ers last year.. He had spent time this year on Miami's off-season roster before being waived on Aug. 25. The Raiders thereafter claimed him.
Source(s): Associated Press, "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
Jerry McDonald reports today in his "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog that Chris O'Neill, who was waived by the Raiders on Aug. 5, told his local paper that he'll be re-signed before tomorrow's game. We have the original story from the Idaho Statesman linked in the Articles section.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
Where Are They Now Dept.: The Browns waived TE John Madsen four days ago. Cleveland originally signed him late in the 2008 season.
His weight was shown as 240—still a tweener, sad to say. As a Raider we liked his hands, but, like other past Oakland experiments at having wide receivers or running backs bulk up (Randall Williams and Harvey Williams come to mind), Madsen simply lacked the weight needed to take on in-line blocking.
Source(s): The Orange and Brown (Scout.com)
Yesterday the Raiders waived DB Jason Horton, who'd been hobbled by turf toe, and signed DT Joe Cohen.
We'll have more on Cohen, and also the signing of CB Mike Hawkins, as soon as time allows (i.e., probably after the game on Aug. 29).
The Pro Football Hall of Fame's senior committee yesterday chose 67-year-old Floyd Little, who gained more than 12,000 total yards in the NFL playing tailback for the Denver Broncos, and Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a star defensive back before becoming a coach, as finalists for the 2010 class.
Giving credit where credit is due, Little was able to run up those impressive yardage totals because he was fortunate to have played in the pre-Shanahan era, when running backs weren't used up and thrown on the scrap heap with ruined knees a la Terrell Davis. Shanahan was to tailbacks what Billy Martin was to pitching staffs—ruining promising young careers by overusing players and demanding they play injured.
Little and LeBeau will join 15 modern-era candidates on the complete list of finalists for the 2010 class, which will be voted on Feb. 6 at the Super Bowl in Miami. Up to two senior candidates and five modern-era hopefuls can be elected.
Source(s): Associated Press
Raiders fans will have noticed that LB Jon Alston started last weekend's game at Candlestick Park. (See speculation in this space on August 19.)
The Raiders have seen their share of plantar fasciitis cases in the past. Think back to CB Larry Brown, for whom the Raiders gave up an arm, a leg, and assorted other body parts—not to mention millions in cash in assuming the overblown contract for a corner who couldn't play man-to-man defense!
And T Lincoln Kennedy—no slouch, he—struggled with plantar fasciitis his last season in Silver & Black.
Alston's a very promising young player who could have a great future with the Raiders. Staying off the affected foot is the only cure for plantar fasciitis. Let's hope that coach Tom Cable's staff shows prudence and patience in allowing Alston the time he needs to fully recover.
MLB Kirk Morrison dislocated his elbow in the San Francisco exhibition and is expected to be out until the season opener. To fill in, the Raiders have brought in none other than Napoleon Harris, their 2002 first-round draft pick. Cut to make room was one of the newest Raiders, CB Ricky Manning, Jr.
Harris's jersey number wasn't immediately available—Raiders.com doesn't yet show today's changes.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea; Pro Football Weekly.com)
If, as Jerry McDonald has recently suggested in several blog posts, LB Jon Alston is struggling with plantar fasciitis—a painful, debilitating injury which is notoriously slow to heal—the Raiders are doing their best to use disinformation to deflect reporters' inquiries.
Coach Tom Cable suggested in a conference call with Bay Area beat reporters last Friday that Morlon Greenwood's signing—we're quoting McDonald here, not Cable—"came in response to Isaiah Ekejiuba sustaining a dislocated left shoulder Thursday against the Dallas Cowboys." But in fact Ekejiuba went to some trouble after the game to explain to reporters that trainers had popped his shoulder back into place during the game and he didn't expect any lasting problems.
Alston, on the other hand, seems to have dropped off the radar. He's gone from likely starter at strong-side linebacker to invisible man.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
As for our ruminations about the number of players actually on the Raiders roster at present (see Aug. 16), it is indeed 80, not 79 as our database had calculated. We were neglecting to include Javon Walker from the PUP list.
We'll correct our database rule (and thus the discrepancy) when next we print out a new roster.
We wondered aloud in this space yesterday how new Raiders corner Ricky Manning Jr. would fit in Oakland's defensive scheme. Bay Area News Group blogger Jerry McDonald wasted no time addressing that subject.
McDonald's questions in print about the degree of pain LB Jon Alston is apparently suffering from plantar fasciitis seem to be vindicated by hindsight. Today the Raiders signed 31-year-old LB Morlon Greenwood, most recently with Houston. to bolster their linebacking corps. Waived was promising youngster DE Derrick Gray.
And McDonald also reports that another recent rumor has become fact: on Friday the Raiders worked out 36-year-old LB Derrick Brooks, whose prime came when Tampa Bay's "D" tormented QB Rich Gannon in Super Bowl 37. Fortunately the Silver & Black did not offer Brooks a contract.
The Raiders are acting an awful lot like a team without a roster opening, which we'd thought they had. We fear it's time to print out the roster from Raiders.com and count players. The font size is absolutely minuscule when printing data from the team's site—torture for old eyes like ours. 
Source(s): Raiders.com, "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
The Raiders released TE-FB John Paul Foschi today, and in his place signed 6-year veteran cornerback Ricky Manning Jr., left. Manning is short (5-9) but muscular (196 lbs), and presumably has press skills since that's what the Raiders expect of their corners.
Manning played collegiately at UCLA and is a Fresno, CA product. He has played for three NFL teams: Carolina, during 2003-05, at Chicago in 2006-07, and last season at St. Louis.
On the personnel front, Jerry McDonald wrote in a blog post yesterday that OLB Morlon Greenwood may have worked out for the Raiders recently. He also cited rumors that former Bucs LB Derrick Brooks might visit. The Raiders still have a roster opening created by the trade of Derrick Burgess.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
Today was Gene Upshaw's birthday. He would have been 64.
Oakland traded DE Derrick Burgess to New England yesterday. In return the Raiders got two 2010 draft picks—a third-rounder and a conditional fourth-rounder.
The Patsies released OL Al Johnson to make room on their roster.
Burgess came to the Raiders three years ago as a gamble. He'd had a history of recurring knee problems in Philly and Oakland shelled out what seemed at the time like a lot of dough for Burgess. But the signing paid off big-time at first as Burgess established himself as a big-time pass rusher, getting 10 sacks and going to the Pro Bowl in 2006. With each ensuing season, however, he had fewer sacks, and in an injury-plagued 2008 campaign he played in only 8 games with 3½ sacks.
At the same time he had grown increasingly unhappy with his contract. Generous at the time he was signed, it increasingly paid him less than his current value, and accordingly, his resentment seemed to increase with each successive year. He held out during off-season OTAs (organized team activities) each of the last two years.
Source(s): Contra Costa Times
FB Oren O'Neal practiced Friday for the first time in more than eleven months. He's trying to come back from a gruesome injury in August of last year when he tore all three of the major ligaments in one knee. As a result he'll be limited to one practice a day for the time being.
WR Javon Walker. whose very expensive right knee remains less than fully functional, was put of the PUP list. The final Oakland injury of the moment belongs to G Robert Gallery, who's on the mend from an appendectomy. DE Derrick Burgess remains a holdout.
QB Andrew Walter, one of two odd men out in the logjam at quarterback, was waived. We liked Walter's arm, but he never really got a second chance with the team after the disastrous season under head coach Art Shell and Neanderthal offensive coordinator Tom Walsh.
Source(s): Contra Costa Times
In addition to waiving sixth-round draft pick Stryker Sulak, the Raiders have cut undrafted free agent linebacker Frantz Joseph, according to the transactions page on Raiders.com.
According to the Bay Area News Group's Jerry McDonald, Joseph "was well down the depth chart during mandatory mini-camp and OTA practices attended by the media and appeared to lack the quickness the Raiders want in their linebackers."
Meanwhile, David Nixon, an undrafted free agent out of BYU, worked with the second team at weakside linebacker and Chris O'Neill, an undrafted free agent out of Boise State, was asked to switch from tight end to linebacker by coach Tom Cable and owner Al Davis. O'Neill now wears jersey No. 42 in place of his former 87.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
CB Nnamdi Asomugha turns 28 tomorrow.
Majority owner Al Davis celebrates his 80th birthday today.
From today's San Francisco Chronicle:
"Teams will have nearly $12 million more under the salary cap this season, the final year with one in place unless the league and its players' union can reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
"The cap was due to increase $7 million to $123 million, but additional adjustments will increase the amount that teams can spend on player compensation to $128 million."
Update: Add to the list, below, of potential coaching candidates Al Saunders, who is believed to have interviewed for the OCX position, and former 49er player and coach Dwaine Board, who served a term as San Francisco's D-line coach and will "be considered for a position."
McDonald opines that Board could well be the Raiders' next defensive line coach, as incumbent Keith Millard has an interview scheduled with the Packers and his former assistant, Don Johnson, has already left.
And finally—switching hats completely—McDonald tosses in this tidbit: For those of you already gearing up for the draft, Mel Kiper Jr.'s mock draft has Oakland taking Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin at No. 7, with Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree gone to Seattle at No. 4. Maclin had 102 catches for 1,260 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Tigers.Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
Birthdays: Two Raiders celebrate birthdays tomorrow. RB Justin Fargas will be 29, and C John Wade will turn 34.
And, since we're doing news updates infrequently lately, we'll take this opportunity to flag DE Jay Richardson as well. He has his 25th birthday on Tuesday (Feb. 27).
Source(s): our own database
Coaching carousel: The Raiders on-field coaching structure remains a shambles even as the Senior Bowl is only one day away.
Linebackers coach Don Martindale was reported by ESPN to have had a five-hour interview with Al Davis the scope of which included the head coaching job. The Raiders shot that down immediately through their usual spokesman, senior executive John Herrera, who denied the ESPN report, insisted Martindale is not an HC candidate, and said the meeting had lasted only two and a half hours instead of the five claimed by ESPN and dealt entirely with defense.
Since then the hiring of one-time Raiders corner Lionel Washington as secondary coach has been made official, and the team also announced that tight ends assistant Kelly Skipper will remain with the team but will move to coaching the tight ends.Earlier, the promotion of John Fassel to special teams coordinator had been announced.
What about Darren Perry, the 2007-08 secondary coach, who seems to be the "odd man out?" Jerry McDonald notes that Perry has interviewed with Davis and opines that he may be a candidate for the vacant defensive coordinator job.
Further speculation by McDonald: Adam Henry, an offensive quality control coach last season, is expected to be promoted to tight ends coach, replacing Skipper; and advance scout Paul Hackett will be considered for the offensive coordinator job.
Finally, gone for sure are LB coach Don Martindale, to Denver, and assistant line coach Don Johnson to San Diego, where he will be the line coach.
Source(s): "Inside The Oakland Raiders" blog (Bay Area News Group/InsideBayArea.com)
"I was very disappointed. Very disappointed. Our defense played great, and we gave the Chargers two short fields. And that's unacceptable for a division game that's this close. So when you do that, you have to go back and re-evaluate where you are and where you want to be. And obviously this is not where we want to be. We have a lot of work to do."
— LB Isaiah Ekejiuba on the two very long (66- and 59-yard) kickoff returns surrendered by Oakland's special teams to San Diego's Darren Sproles, Sept. 16, 2009
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