 
|
News Archive
Apr. 1 - June 27, 2005
|
|
The Raiders announced the signing today of DT Ed Jasper, 32, an 8-year veteran. ESPN's Len Pasquarelli reported that Jasper inked a one-year deal for the minimum salary for his experience level ($665,000) plus a $25,000 roster bonus.
Pasquarelli describes Jasper as versatile, a lineman who can play the nose or "under" tackle positions and perhaps some end as well. Jasper, a Texas A&M alum, stands 6-2 and weighs 293 pounds. He broke into the NFL in 1997 with Philly. After two years there, he spent the next six in Atlanta. The Falcons released him in February 2005.
Source(s): ESPN.com, Associated Press
The Raiders will open training camp July 25 in Alameda, bringing in only rookies and selected veterans for three days. The entire team will report to the Napa Valley Marriott on July 28, with the first practice scheduled for Aug. 2, said head coach Norv Turner.
Source(s): San Francisco Chronicle
FB Omar Easy was signed, and DL Mark Word was waived today.
Easy, who spent the last three years in Kansas City, was not offered a contract by March 1, making him a free agent. A native of Jamaica, he's 6-2 and weighs 245. He played collegiately at Penn State.
He only carried the ball a total of 6 times during his tenure with the Chefs, but was a special teams regular in 2003-04.
Source(s): Raiders.com
Raider Hall-of-Famer Jim Otto is in crisis again. He's had two surgeries in a nine-day period and is trying to fight off an infection in his knee which, if it were to spread, could kill him. The danger is that because of all the past surgeries he's had, he has virtually no immunity.
The frightening details—and that word is not an exaggeration under the circumstances—appeared in a Dave Newhouse article today in the Oakland Tribune. Here's a direct link.
Judging by an online teaser for the upcoming issue, Sports Illustrated's next issue may include a feature on new Raider LaMont Jordan. The online piece is dated June 27, so presumably that would be the print date as well.
Source(s): Sports Illustrated
Citing a Steve Corkran column in the Sporting News, KFFL reported yesterday that there is some speculation that Raiders QB Rich Gannon is awaiting an announcement on his retirement so that he and owner Al Davis can find a position for Gannon on the coaching staff or in the front office. Gannon, says the report, could take a position that allows him to work with the team's quarterbacks and then work his way up from there. Gannon is also apparently pursuing a broadcasting spot with CBS.
Source(s): KFFL.com
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there (including yours truly!)!!
Anyone who's been a Raiders fan for any length of time knows Jim Otto has had one surgery after another. Otto pays now for a career in which he never missed a game in 15 seasons with constant pain and has had three near-death experiences, most recently only two years or so back. His wife Sally counts 50 major surgeries he's undergone.
Now, according to Sally, Jim is faced with an 80% chance of losing his right leg. Although not life threatening, that has to be an exceedingly disheartening prospect to as active and good-natured a man as Otto, who's a roving goodwill ambassador for the franchise. The complications stem from the reduced immune system Otto has due to all those surgeries and treatments over the years.
Our prayers and our thoughts are with you, Jim, as you undergo treatment at Stanford Medical Center.
Source(s): Oakland Tribune, Sports Xchange
Tennessee cut S Lance Schulters the other day in a cap-related move, bringing to two the number of unemployed, good safeties the Raiders could use. (Brock Marion is the other.) Neither is a youngster, but the Raiders could use some experience in the middle to help hold the line until Stuart Schweigert is ready to start.
TE Kevin Ware, signed in early May, was waived yesterday.
Source(s): Raiders.com
As part of an expanded NFL program designed to integrate talented international players into the NFL, each of the member teams of two divisions—the AFC West and NFC South—has been assigned a player who will occupy a practice squad slot for the remainder of the 2005 season.
The NFL obviously looked for particularly skilled players, and all indications are the Raiders' assignee is a live fish. He's Finnish DT Michael Quarshie, who played for Frankfurt in the spring NFLEL season which just wrapped up. He's also played for the Columbia University Lions the past two falls (I think; the accounts are somewhat jumbled) and was named All-Ivy League in 2004.
Late update:
Netscape released a newly patched version of its browser about 36 hours ago, so—to the best of this observer's knowledge—the "serious flaw" which had been discovered in certain versions of Netscape (including v7.2), and about which this site warned readers on April 28, is no more, and the browser is once again safe to use. And has always rendered this site more accurately than any other browser. If you're a Netscape user, do download a new copy, of course, so as to get the patched safety net.
Once again, I recommend Netscape 7.2 (patched) for the most accurate viewing of this site. If you see horizontal scroll bars, you're using Internet Explorer and I can only say, "Those do not appear in the site as it is designed!"
Here are a handful of details I was able to dig up on the Raiders' latest two acquisitions, tight ends Kevin Ware and Joshua Norman. But neither player shows up on most of the web pages for player data, nor (in the case of Norman), yet on Raiders.com. And as previously noted by reader Gerald Hibbard, Ware is erroneously listed as a rookie.
Ware, as reported, was an undrafted rookie signed by Washington in April 2003. KFFL.com does record that 
he spent slightly more than a month on the Whiners roster in 2004, from Oct. 25 through Nov. 30, and that site listed him initially—at the time he was signed by SF—as a "TE/FB", so it's no doubt fair to characterize him as first and foremost a blocker.
Josh Norman spent two seasons, 2002-03, with the Chargers, seeing action in all 16 games of 2002 and 6 the following campaign. (Six or more games constitutes an accrued season under the CBA.) He's 6-3, 260 pounds, and played collegiately at Oklahoma. I also learned he was hampered by a hamstring pull in 2003. He was apparently out of football in 2004.
Source(s): FOXSports, KFFL.com, Raiderfans.net, Gerald Hibbard
The Raiders, obviously looking to fill the gap created by the trade of Doug Jolley, have acquired another tight end. This time it's Josh Norman, waived by the Jets on May 5, whom the Raiders signed today.
Source(s): KFFL.com
Correction: Reader Gerald Hibbard checked in again to correct an error on Raiders.com. The team's newest player, TE Kevin Ware, is not a rookie although he is so listed on the official site. He was signed by Washington as an undrafted rookie in 2003 and last played in the NFL with the Whiners, who released him on Dec. 1, 2004. Hibbard also reports he weighs 260 rather than 280 as stated on the Raiders site.
Source(s): Gerald Hibbard, KFFL.com
Late update:
Ask and ye shall receive . . . Reader Gerald Hibbard e-mailed to draw my attention to the newly added roster entry on Raiders.com for rookie Roderick Green. He's a 22-year-old guard, absolutely petite by Raiders standards—6-4, 285 pounds—and comes to the NFL by way of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Thanks, Gerald!
The Fanball column on Yahoo! Sports ridiculed FB Rob Konrad when his retirement was announced, but it says here the Raiders will miss the offensive punch he could have brought to the table. The guy caught 50 balls in one of the two seasons he played under Norv Turner in Miami. That, and he was a great lead blocker. Imagine the pressure put on inside backers when a 255-pounder comes barrelling down on you and you don't know if his assignment is to pulverize you or break off into a short pass route . . .
In an article just published today in the Palm Beach Post, Konrad said health issues were a definite factor in his decision to retire. He declined to go into detail, however.
Source(s): Palm Beach Post
Less publicized than the draft itself, an important part of the ritual takes part after the draft is concluded, as scouts for the 32 NFL clubs scurry around with their briefcases and form contracts trying to sign up rookies who went undrafted. The Raiders do their share, and one need look no further than starting left tackle Barry Sims to find a gem in whom—due to a serious knee injury he incurred in a post-season game—interest was marginal at the time he was draft-eligible. Sims has since developed into one of the premiere pass blocking tackles in the game today.
That said, this observer commends to your attention this site's Personnel page, where you'll find links to some tidbits about the following "walk-ons": G Clinton Brooks (Maryland), S-PR Chris Carr (Boise State), DE-long snapper Jordan Hicks (Georgetown), and TE Ralph Plumb (Yale). There's also an offensive lineman named Roderick Green about whom we could discover absolutely nothing save that he's not the Central Missouri State alum drafted by Baltimore in the fifth round in 2004. (That Green's a linebacker.)
Several days back Coach Norv Turner as much as announced his intended starting offensive line for 2005, while phrasing it in terms of a "goal." At the pivot will be sophomore Jake Grove, back to his natural position (and the one at which he won the Rimington Trophy his senior year at Virginia Tech). On the left side, Barry Sims will man the tackle slot and it's hoped that Langston Walker will be prepared to settle into starting at left guard. Brad Badger will play right guard and Robert Gallery right tackle again.
To those who might be surprised at Gallery remaining on the right side, it makes more sense than it might seem at first blush. Nowadays, for a team with a right-handed quarterback the left tackle has developed into a specialty blocking niche, requiring the nifty footwork to pass protect in open space. Right tackles tend to be considerably bigger and better suited to run blocking. Put another way, teams will typically play the technician of their starting tackles on the weak side, and the mauler on the strong. Since Gallery has a 25-pound weight advantage on Sims, he's well suited to play the right side as well as the left.
Mark this observer's words: if this team has problems this season, they shouldn't come when the Raiders have the ball. All the pieces are in place for a powerful offense. What was lacking last year, and is still in short supply in many spots, is defense. The Raiders still lack a playmaking safety and have only marginal linebacking. We shall see . . .
Source(s): Sacramento Bee
This site has always encouraged readers to view it using Netscape because, put simply, Netscape renders it most accurately in regards to fine points. A disturbing discovery, however, was reported yesterday which this observer feels duty-bound to pass on to any of you using Netscape.
The Danish security company Secunia released a report of what it termed a "highly critical" flaw in two versions of Netscape: 6.2.3 and 7.2. It said other versions could possibly be implicated as well. Secunia's advice: "Use another product."
I concur. As is generally the case nowadays with serious flaws, this one exploits a buffer overflow attack. Generally speaking such flaws have been successfully patched by companies in the past, but until they are, the software is unsafe to use.
For now the suggestion from this corner is to use either of two excellent competitors, Mozilla Firefox (currently at v1.0.3) or Opera (up to v8.0—wow!). Each renders this site quite nicely and more accurately than Microsoft's product.
Source(s): ZDNet, CNET News
The Raiders used their new spot, three slots higher, to grab speedy CB Fabian Washington of Nebraska—arguably the fastest man at the Combine—thus conspiring to see that I lost their "Who Will the Raiders Pick First?" Fan Contest. You see, with infallible logic and unassailable foresight I had picked S Brodney Pool, the second best safety in the draft, reasoning that the best safety, Georgia's Thomas Davis, would be long gone at No. 26. I saw Fabian Washington there in mock drafts, and knew he likely would still be available because of his shrimpy size; and I know about Al Davis' starry-eyed enchantment for cornerbacks, even undersized runts like the one we just shipped out to Houston. But I thought, "No, not even Al could ignore such a glaring team need as we have for a playmaking safety." And we got Renaldo Hill, too, who's a starter in my book. And so, with a wise nod, I typed in Pool's name and clicked Submit. The moral of this story is that Al Davis's prejudices come before objective team assessments.
Now, in place of a hard-hitting safety—a glaring weakness on this team since the retirement of Albert Lewis and Eric Turner's decline— we'll have a 183-pound corner whose ability to provide run support is marginal at best. Coupled with a second corner, Stanford Routt, who in 47 collegiate games made an underwhelming three tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Oakland's remaining picks now are the two compensatories in the 6th round—Nos. 212 and 214—and the 7th-rounder from the Jets (No. 230 overall).
Source(s): NFL.com Draft Tracker, Associated Press
The Great Blue Draft Report has just confirmed that the seventh-round pick sent to the Raiders by the Jets as the final part of the Jolley trade was for No. 230 overall. So, barring further trades, that completes the scorecard for Saturday and Sunday.
It was a double-barrelled draft trade day for the Raiders. You don't see many of those . . . especially when the players are going out and not coming in.
First the franchise cleaned up the obviously distasteful residue from yesterday's effort to bamboozle one over on the Redskins. There's hardly a team more desperate for cornerbacks than Washington, so when they wouldn't bite at the (outrageously high) price being asked by Oakland, the Raiders swallowed their pride and went looking for what they could get, which was clearly not a first-round pick.
Houston struck a deal with the Raiders. Charlie Casserly related to reporters that he took his scouts to the baseball game, and while there, Houston decided to offer Oakland a mid-round 2nd-rounder and a mid-round 3rd-rounder as compensation, and the Raiders jumped at the bait. Pretty decent compensation, it says here, when you consider the way Buchanon dogged it much of last year . . . Dom Capers is a defensive-minded head coach who thinks you can never have too many good cover corners—he does happen to play in a division with Peyton Manning, but some would say you can beat the Colts by mauling their receivers—anyway, Capers extolled the virtues of his new secondary depth by dint of a ghostwriter on the team's official site, just oozing the superlatives. Boy, will he learn!! Wait until Showtime surrenders his first 11- or 12-completion performance and refuses to field a few punts . . .
Buchanon was originally a No. 1 pick by the Raiders in 2002 (No. 17 overall), one of the bounty of picks resulting from the Jon Gruden defection to Tampa Bay. LB Napoleon Harris (since traded to Minneapolis in the Randy Moss swap) was also chosen in that same first round in 2002 by Oakland. In fact, the Raiders traded up twice to get Buchanon in that draft. As Raiders beat writer Gregg Bell noted succinctly today in the Sacramento Bee,
"The Buchanon trade and the fact the Raiders are seeking to deal Jolley amounts to an indirect - and rare - admission that the team largely whiffed on the 2002 draft.
Buchanon was the Raiders' first choice, 17th overall. Their second choice in the first round, at No. 23, was Harris, who briefly was benched for ineffectiveness last season.
The Raiders' second choice of the second round was Jolley, at 55th overall. The only high pick left from that draft is second-rounder Langston Walker, who has started 11 games in three seasons. The offensive tackle appears destined for another season as a backup."
And what a slick segue that is into the second trade, ¿heh, Don Diego?
(The reference will be lost on you whippersnappers too young to remember the television series "Zorro." Sigh . . . )
It turns out that the Raiders had been shopping TE Doug Jolley for at least a few days. The Sac Bee's Gregg Bell reported that fact yesterday. And it's not surprising, given that coach Norv Turner wasn't thrilled with Jolley's play. In Turner offenses tight ends are expected to be power blockers, and Jolley's more reminiscent of Todd Christensen in the blocking department, that is to say, he doesn't. It's the same reason Teyo Johnson spent most of last season in Turner's doghouse.
Jolley had a productive first year but then tailed off dramatically after that. He wasn't physical, didn't seem willing to put on weight in the weight room, and—a cardinal sin for an ineffective blocker—he dropped too many catchable passes. In his day, Christensen got by with shoddy blocking because he caught everything in sight and then ran like a fullback—which he was—after the catch. Jolley didn't seem to display any of those superlatives.
In return for Jolley the Raiders got a low first-rounder, No. 26, and a seventh-round pick, and had to surrender three 2005 draft picks, including one of the two they had just acquired for Buchanon. The two teams apparently spent much of the day dickering over exactly which three draft picks the Jets were due to collect from the Raiders; indeed, by evening, only one draft site (the Great Blue North Draft Report) was willing to list as a fact the trade of Jolley for the Jets' first-rounder. But it now seems reasonably certain.
Source(s): Associated Press, HoustonTexans.com, Great Blue North Draft Report
Earlier today, rumors had Oakland offering Washington disgruntled CB Phillip Buchanon and its second-round pick in return for Washington's first-rounder (No. 9 overall), but obviously someone in the Foreskins' front office came to his senses in the nick of time and concluded Buchanon's not worth (even remotely) that much. Washington is desperate at the corners, what with Fred Smoot gone, but still . . . So now, per team president Joe Gibbs, Washington is standing pat with that first first-rounder. (Translation: they'll still listen to offers, bud it would have to be a lot more than Phillip Buchanon.) What a shame, unloading Buchanon to move up into the first-round—it would have been a steal!!
Source(s): Associated Press
In a seemingly modest, four-page ruling yesterday, the Alameda County Superior Court did more to bring sunshine to the Raiders' financial affairs than all the previous Raiders-related litigation combined.
Judge James Richman ordered Al Davis and A.D. Football, Inc.—the holding company for Al Davis' majority interest in the Raiders—to open up his books to the attorneys for Sherratt Reicher, grandson of the late E.J. McGah. The information will become part of the public record if the case goes to trial, which, given the dollars and the issues involved, seems a very good bet.
To quote writer Tim Kawakami:[Davis] is a man who treats secrecy and paranoia as if there were no other ways to run a franchise, who uses the team injury report like it was a coded message. This is a football genius who keeps almost everybody off balance and groping in the dark, even his coaches, his players, his public-relations staff, his lawyers and his top executives.
And now, maybe not.
According to Richman's order, the Raiders and Davis must provide the McGah trust almost all financial data from 1999 to the present, including ticket reports, gross-revenue reports, franchise-valuation documents and tax data. The order also includes the franchise's check registry, accounting of legal fees (that ought to be a good one) and compensation to the general partner (which would be Mr. D. himself).
One may point out, this is big news precisely because Davis' paranoia makes it so. Now we may really see just what financial shape the Raiders really are in, never mind the public posture. Don't forget, readers, PSLs expire after this season and the franchise will be pitching the public once again beginning at the end of 2005.
Source(s): San Jose Mercury News
The Raiders landed a quality free agent over the weekend in the person of CB Renaldo Hill, a four-year vet drafted by Arizona in the seventh round in 2001. Never projected to start, Hill more than exceeded expectations in Arizona and it's frankly surprising that the Cards let him get away.
As ESPN's Len Pasquarelli, who broke the story, pointed out, Hill will earn that $1.4 million in 2005 if he performs as he has the past two seasons. And with Charles Woodson being open trade bait, Hill could definitely be in the mix to compete for a starter's role.
Finally, unlike recent acquisitions DE Derrick Burgess and DT Kenny Smith, Hill has no question marks about his health.
Source(s): ESPN.com, Associated Press
Finally, a little comic relief . . . at the unfortunate expense of ex-Raiders kicker Cole Ford.
A Las Vegas paper published an article on the results of a court-ordered psychiatric examination of former Raider Cole Ford, he of the Siegfried & Roy incident, which was conducted on Nov. 10 of last year.
It seems Ford, who's been found not competent to stand trial, had a vision in which he came to realize that Siegfried and Roy were, uh, how shall we put this, "doing it" with their animals. Whereupon Ford felt he needed to warn the world of the danger involved, what with HIV issues, etc. He intended no harm to anyone, and the psychiatrist commented on how "open" Ford was about his thoughts.
As the Las Vegas Review Journal melodramatically summed it up, "the former pro football kicker found what he believed was a global conspiracy involving his father, famed magicians Siegfried & Roy, and the spread of disease, according to a psychiatric evaluation report."
Hill notified the Cardinals on Saturday that he was going to sign a one-year, $565,000 deal with the Raiders on Monday. Included in the deal is a $25,000 signing bonus, but the contract has incentives that could allow him to earn as much as $1.4 million this season.
Considering his playing time in the past, Hill should have a good chance of earning the entire $1.4 million. Hill has a couple tiers of playing-time incentives. Though he's entered the past two seasons not expecting to start, Hill has ended up consistently playing more than two-thirds of the defensive downs for the Cardinals. In 2003 he had a break-out season filling in for the injured Duane Starks.
Source(s): ESPN.com
On Friday, the Miami judge who has jurisdiction over Robbins' criminal case signed off on Robbins' plan to enter the treatment facility located near his father's residence in the Houston area.
Robbins' attorney, Ed O'Donnell, told Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Kevin Emus and prosecutors that his client plans to receive medical treatment at a hospital near Houston, for "as long as it takes."
ESPN.com reports former Oakland Raiders C Barret Robbins (gunshot wound) is scheduled to be released from the hospital Friday, April 8. He has been there since Jan. 15, when he was in an altercation with three police officers. Robbins is expected to enter an alcohol and drug rehab facility in Texas, which specializes in patients with bipolar disorder. He is being charged with three counts of attempted felony murder. Robbins has been granted bond, which is contingent on him entering the treatment program and successfully completing it. If he fails to, he will be returned to police custody.
Source(s): KFFL.com
Summarizing NFL Europe capsules, for the Rhein Fire S Keyon Nash had five tackles and LB Edward Thomas had three. Frankfurt Galaxy RB J.R. Niklos had four carries for 12 yards.
Source(s): KFFL.com, Raiders.com
Very late update: According to the Rumor Mill, which despite its title, this observer has found to be very dependable in its reporting, as of yesterday Oakland's free space under the cap was a mere $300,000. The Raiders need a lot more defense than 300K can procure to expect to fare significantly better than they did last year. Not to mention that they'll need to try to sign their draft picks.
Yours truly's take: the Charles Woodson salary is killing them. They have to find a way to package him—perhaps with other veteran players— so as to unload at least a significant chunk of his $10.5 million.
Source(s): ProFootballTalk.com
Alex Marvez and Ethan Skolnick of the (South Florida) Sun-Sentinel reported that the Raiders are one of the top suitors in possibly acquiring CB Patrick Surtain from Miami. However, no trade is close to being worked out due to the Dolphins' compensation requests and the need to sign Surtain to a multi-year extension.
Raiders.com finally announced the signings of free agents FB Rob Konrad and DT Kenny Smith yesterday, each to a one-year deal. Konrad's salary was reported by KFFL.com as $700,000; the Miami Herald said it was $656,000. No figures were available for Smith's deal.
Each of these guys is a gamble, Smith more so than Konrad, but that's why they do one-year contracts, d-oh! This site reported several days back that Smith spent 2004 on IR. Konrad missed six games last season due to assorted back and thigh problems.
Source(s): Raiders.com, KFFL.com, Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News
Send corrections or comments to
