Oakland Raiders - The Vertical Game

News Archive
Apr. 8 - Jun. 29, 2007

Friday, June 29, 2007

It shouldn't come as any great shock to anyone that, according to rookie DE Jay Richardson, it was "veterans" (plural) who 'blew the whistle' on new coach Lane Kiffin for OTAs exceeding the scope permitted under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

It hasn't been that long since the Korey Stringer incident and one can fairly understand concerns about Kiffin's incessant "hurry-up" pace at practice. Then again, Kiffin himself drew attention to the contact that was occurring in the practices when he made his widely publicized comment praising Robert Gallery for "putting guys on the ground." That remark was widely reprinted, including on the Rumor Mill site (www.profootballtalk.com).

Richardson's comment, according to ANG writer Jerry McDonald, came in an interview the rookie did with a hometown newspaper. McDonald wrote that Richardson implied that multiple veterans complained to the union.

The Raiders signed their second lineman of the week today, DT Lauvale Sape. He's 6-1, weighs 295, and has appeared in 10 league games previously with Buffalo. He spent 2004 on the Jills' practice squad.

On Wednesday Oakland signed an offensive tackle, Albert Toeaina, who stands 6-6 and tips the scales at 355 pounds. He's a right tackle, described in his pre-draft profile as tough and nasty but stiff and lost when he has to block in space. (That does not translate well into zone blocking abilities, which stress agility and flexibility.) He transferred to Tennessee in 2004 after graduating from the two-year powerhouse that is City College of San Francisco. (The CCSF Rams, perennial national community college champs, boast among their alumni RB O.J. Simpson.)

Toeaina was at least briefly the property of the Carolina Panthers last season, but his name was not to be found on any of the lists maintained by the half dozen player sites we routinely check, so the guess here is that his stopover in Carolina was relatively short.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Sixth-round draft pick FB Oren O'Neal was signed to a contract today according to Raiders.com.

Where Are They Now Dept.: FB J.R. Niklos, who until a few days ago played for NFL Europa's Frankfurt Galaxy, was signed yesterday by Cleveland.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

With the posting of an article on Raiders.com which might aptly be titled, "We Don't Get No Respect," it's appropriate here to point readers to a informative recent post which furnished really helpful background.

The Raiders cite as an example of a season which ought to have been honored by the NFL Network, among its Top 10 ever, the Eleven Angry Men in 1967. And so it should have been. It was a fearsome defense, which propelled the Raiders into Super Bowl II despite a low-octane passing offense that often accumulated relatively few passing yards. Fans may not recall that the gaudy 13-1-0 record of that year, which began with a 51-0 rout of Denver and ended with a 40-7 clobbering of Houston in the AFL Championship Game, included a number of contests in between in which the offense wasn't producing a lot of points.

QB Daryle Lamonica was the AFL's MVP in '67, deservedly—he led the Raiders to their first title in his first year with the team—but he passed only 14 times a game as coach John Rauch favored conservative game plans in the mold of Hank Stram or Don Shula. Most of the Mad Bomber's passes went not to the split ends and flankers but to FB Hewritt Dixon (listed as a halfback, but at 225 pounds he ran like a hybrid tailback-fullback) and TE Billy Cannon. Defense—the Eleven Angry Men—punt returns, and the running game won for Oakland in 1967.

In 1967 the team's best wide receiver was Bill Miller, who started in the Super Bowl. Fred Biletnikoff, then in his third season (and still wearing No. 14), was not yet a great or even a particularly good receiver (he was manhandled by Packers CB Herb Adderley in SB II); in his early years he dropped a lot of balls. Tired of Biletnikoff's inconsistency (drops), Al Davis had tried out the faster flanker Rod Sherman in pre-season but Fred beat out Sherman and held the starting job throughout 1967; nevertheless he wasn't dependable: he looked too frail, he got manhandled by opposing DBs, he had nagging injuries. It wasn't until the middle of his fourth season, 1968, that he "came of age" as a reliable receiver.

The team's leading receivers that year included a pair of big (225-pound) halfbacks. There was Dixon, of course, a former tight end at Denver whom the Raiders had converted to a halfback/fullback when he came to Oakland in a 1966 trade, and also Clem Daniels, a very good receiver—to this day he holds the Raiders career record for most receptions of 40 yards or more, with 11. (Daniels didn't have great totals for the 1967 season because he suffered a nasty leg fracture in week 9 in November which ended his career. His absence noticeably depleted the Raiders offense when they went up against the Packers juggernaut in the Super Bowl.)

The '67 Raiders won with intimidation, and it was the Eleven Angry Men that did the intimidation. Raiders.com does an adequate job of conveying how dominant they were, but an extensive post by the fan who calls himself speedkills21 in the Contra Costa Times reader forum not too long ago really opened our eyes to how great a defense it was, and for how many seasons it continued to be great. This wasn't a one- or two-season phenomenon. Here's the link: Eleven Angry. As much as we were tempted to withhold this and use it for deep background—to show how wise we are

—it's only fair to share it with readers.

You'll have to decipher the fan's somewhat cryptic shorthand, but you'll be able to with a little effort. He uses two-letter abbreviations for franchises instead of three-, and often favors elliptical expressions (leaving words or phrases unstated but understood). Work at it; the content is worth it.

Gregg Hayim, who works for the Arena Football League, sent us an article he's written on former Raider T Lincoln Kennedy, who now plays for that league's Tampa Bay Storm. You can find the piece in the Articles section.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Curt Marsh, a first-round draft pick who played guard for the Raiders from 1981-87, was among a group of former NFL players testifying today before a sympathetic House Judiciary subcommittee. They told the Congresspersons that "playing professional football left them with broken bodies, brain damage and empty bank accounts. Lawmakers said they may get involved if a better pension and disability system isn't created."

"Former NFL players told a sympathetic House Judiciary subcommittee tales of multiple surgeries, dementia and homelessness, all while trying to fight through the red tape of the National Football League and the NFL Players Association's disability system."

Marsh's horror story was particularly compelling. He described a leg amputation, more than 30 surgeries, and multiple doctor visits before he was approved for disability payments. The subcommittee heard the agonizing story of Pittsburgh's Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, who suffered brain damage attributed by his lawyer to head injuries and died homeless in 2002. (Webster's estate won a lawsuit in 2005—and a major measure of vindication—and prevailed on appeal against the NFL retirement funds last December for retroactive benefits, with interest, dating from 1991, when his head injuries were found to have been incurred. See our News section item for more.) And Brent Boyd, a Minnesota Viking from 1980-86, talked about his bouts with homelessness as a single dad and brain damage which he blames on multiple concussions from his football days.

Fifth-round draft pick DE Jay Richardson was signed to a contract of undisclosed terms today. Free agent rookie T Eddie Keele, from BYU, was waived.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

An opinion piece masquerading as reporting which ran yesterday demonstrates all too well why we're not overly enamored with the RealFootball365.com crew's "reporting."

Initially, we note that the article was not written by Anthony Carroll, the 'regular' Raiders writer—if you can call appearing about four days out of each week regular—but by one Jon Elliott. The headline states the writer's opinion plainly enough: "Raiders' Moses a future building block." That's a reference to rookie DE Quentin Moses, of course, taken by the Raiders in the third round of last April's draft. And it's the second occasion on which we've seen RealFootball365.com state as a fact that Moses will be given every opportunity to start at the left defensive end position opposite Derrick Burgess. Anthony Carroll wrote as much in another piece a couple of weeks ago.

Carroll or Elliott may anoint Moses as the next Greg Townsend if they choose, but we have some problems with such an analysis. To begin with, anyone who's read the pre-draft scouting reports on Moses knows that after a monster junior year at Georgia (11.5 sacks, 20.5 tackles for a loss), his production fell way off his senior year (4.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss) and he was faulted by many scouts for a lack of intensity. A typical comment is this one from Scout.com:

The Raiders and the Moses camp, and the RealFootball365 article, all counter that their man was subjected to constant double-teams his senior year and argue that this accounted for the drop-off in numbers.

Regardless of which explanation one prefers—or perhaps, both explanations factored into the situation—it's hardly a given that Moses, coming off a lackluster Senior Bowl and weighing barely 260 pounds, can be an all-around, every-down end for the Raiders. (Yes, size is another concern; at 6-5½ and 260 pounds, Moses isn't much heavier than a tweener—more like a string bean.) The mere fact that he was drafted in the third stanza should mean little when we recall relatively recent Oakland draft busts such as Matt Stinchcomb (1st), Teyo Johnson, Doug Jolley, and Marques Tuiasosopo (2nd), and Tim Kohn and DeLawrence Grant (3rd round). Oakland's drafts are often relatively hit-or-miss propositions; for every gem that managing general partner Al Davis digs out of a small Southern school in the late rounds, e.g., Grady Jackson, the organization flops with a pick in the higher rounds, such as Stinchcomb or a certain No. 76 whose name we won't say yet . . .

Our vote is cast against pencilling in anyone solely on the basis of draft position. Have we learned nothing from Messrs. Gallery and Grove?

There's another good reason why Quentin Moses shouldn't have a clear shot at the LDE slot on the starting unit. There's a bigger player, arguably as good or even a better pass rusher and almost certainly better against the run, named Kevin Huntley, who's standing in Moses' path. Huntley took the reps opposite Burgess at the mandatory mini-camp and deserved them, as he is the natural successor to the departed Lance Johnstone. Indeed, at 6-7 and 270 pounds, he's bigger than Johnstone was, or than Burgess and Moses are. And he's a terror when he plays. The only negative we have seen in the limited action Art Shell gave Huntley last season was a proclivity for stupid penalties, i.e., personal fouls. That can be fixed, hopefully, with good coaching and more playing time so that Huntley isn't unduly anxious to produce big plays when he is in the game.

In any event, we would certainly think Huntley is the starter opposite Burgess on any team depth chart at this point in time. He deserves to play.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported last week that SS Donovin Darius was expected to visit Alameda on Wednesday, and that the Raiders were expected to make a pitch aimed at signing him. Darius was released by Jacksonville on June 14.

Reached by telephone last night, Darius said, "I made it clear (to the Raiders) my wife and I are going to have some decisions to make. The Raiders made me feel welcome in every way, and my wife and I were very pleased. We got to meet Mr. (Al) Davis and the coaching staff, tour the facility and were very impressed."

Darius is a strong safety. If signed to the Silver and Black, the guess here is that Michael Huff would move to free safety and current starting FS Stuart Schweigert would move to the bench. Schweigert is not a particularly impressive tackler and also lacks Huff's overall speed and ball skills.

Monday, June 18, 2007

There's a marvelous post today in the Contra Costa Times' Raiders message forum about the Oakland halfbacks who followed Clem Daniels, but what's most fascinating is the discussion of Daniels himself. The poster is a forum regular who goes by the nom de plume "speedkills21" and loves to write about Raiders history.

Daniels was a mega-star of the American Football League during its infancy, when there was little regular television coverage. Supremely talented, his career was cut short by a nasty fracture of his leg during the 1967 season, approximately two months before Oakland ran into the Vince Lombardi-coached Packers buzz saw. Daniels played for the Raiders from 1962 through mid-1967.

We'll leave you to speedkills21's description of Daniels' abilities . . . . Here's a link to the post: CD and C Smith.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

One deals with a Washington Redskins position change—Joe Gibbs is moving his tallest player, 6-foot-8 backup tackle Todd Wade, to guard to replace the departed Derrick Dockery—but has a decent discussion about differences between playing tackle and guard. One can fairly apply much of it to our own 6-7 Robert Gallery, who appears headed—quite possibly—for a similar shift to guard.

Here's the link. As we suggested in the Articles section, read it substituting Robert Gallery in place of Todd Wade.

The second article is CBS Sportsline writer Pete Prisco's "Top 50 players." While we're not particularly enamored of Prisco's judgments generally, we have noted that he recently had nice things to say about third-round draft pick Mario Henderson. Now his list of the NFL's top 50 players not only includes CB Nnamdi Asomugha, but sports a photo of Nnamdi running with a pick.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Where Are They Now Dept.: Sean Jones, who not that long ago worked for the Raiders in their pro personnel operation, surrendered to the FBI in Houston yesterday after he was indicted along with four other men in an alleged bank fraud scam. The gist of the allegations is that Jones and others worked with bank real estate appraisers to secure mortgage loans far above the actual value of the properties, and then diverted the funds to personal use.

Jones, now 45, is identified as a sports agent living in the Houston area. He and his four co-defendants each pleaded not guilty and bail for each was set at $100,000. A trial date of August 6 was set.

The Raiders canceled the final week of their offseason training program today after complaints from the NFL players' union about the intensity of the practices. The sessions would have been mostly weight work, but the gaffe still points up new coach Lane Kiffin's lack of NFL experience.

Kiffin issued a brief statement to the effect that the NFLPA believes the Raiders' offseason program violated league rules on practice standards.

"The union has complained about the high level of intensity, player aggressiveness and fast pace of our practices and, as a result, has taken away the final week of our offseason program," said Kiffin. He is not only the league's youngest head coach, but is also the least experienced.

The full statement by Kiffin can be perused on Raiders.com, where it is prominently displayed. It's all of two sentences long.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

According to the FantasySource notes on The Sporting News web site, "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that [WR Ronald] Curry returned to practice Monday after missing two weeks with a minor leg injury."

Where Are They Now Dept.: One-time Raider Andre Rison has been ordered into involuntary bankruptcy proceedings to pay back child support and other claims.

During his last years in the NFL and since his retirement, Rison has been in and out of the news periodically in connection with arrests for unpaid child support, bad checks written for jewelry purchases, etc. It's fair to say he seems to enjoy an expensive mode of living regardless of whether he has the money in his bank account at that particular moment to cover the cost.

A Raiders spokesman indicated as recently as yesterday that the opening date of training camp is still tentative. The date of July 27 which has been previously tossed about is apparently the tentative date of the first practice; the players would actually report on July 26.

In past years players have reported by, and gotten settled in with, a late afternoon or early evening deadline, with the first practice taking place the following morning.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Two veteran linebackers, Isaiah Kacyvenski and Ben Taylor, worked with the defense at the first day of mini-camp on a tryout basis. Neither has been signed to a contract.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

If the Raiders are to seriously approach any of the gaudy 8-win (and better) projections we're seeing being made by fans who are sold on new coach Lane Kiffin, solid change will have to come in the form of winning some games in the AFC West. Oakland hasn't won even a single contest in its own division in what, three years? Four?

(We'll answer our own rhetorical question. We last beat a division opponent in the snow in Denver three seasons back, in 2004, when WR Ronald Curry made his wonderful one-handed grab in what turned out to be a one-point victory.)

Denver, in particular, is not giving the Raiders a stationary target this off-season. First Ratface's minions went out and traded for, and then negotiated with and signed the highly temperamental Dré Bly, a superb cover corner, to pair with All Universe CB Champ Bailey. Now, to pair with Strong Sam Adams in the interior defensive line, they've signed their second 300-pound-plus lineman this week, acquiring DT Jimmy Kennedy from the St. Louis Lambs in exchange for an undisclosed 2008 draft pick.

Friday, June 8, 2007

By letting a relatively obscure June 1 deadline pass without a contract tender, the Raiders pretty much made official last week what had been de facto obvious for several months now—UFAs SS Derrick Gibson, G Corey Hulsey, and LB-DE Grant Irons no longer figure in the team's plans for the future.

The June 1 deadline has two parts, one of which applies only to restricted free agents (RFAs). The clause applicable to UFAs is phrased thus: "Deadline for old clubs to send tender to unsigned unrestricted free agents to receive exclusive negotiating rights for rest of season if player is not signed by another club by July 22."

In other words, the old club has the power to keep a UFA dangling on an "exclusive negotiating rights" string for the rest of the season, at its beck and call, if, once training camps get underway, the UFA hasn't been able to land a job with a new team—simply by tendering the veteran minimum. Such veteran players can provide valuable insurance in case younger, cheaper players are injured or simply don't pan out. To pass on such an opportunity is as clear a signal as you'll see that a club can't conceive of any scenario in which it could foresee wanting to pay that particular player.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Randy Moss told reporters on Wednesday that he gets a bad rap because he doesn't like to give interviews. Then, when asked (by respected Sports Illustrated writer Don Banks) if the Patriots took a risk in trading for him, he refused to answer and ended the session.

"See?" he said, walking away. "They were all good questions until he slipped that one at the end. I'll see y'all."

From the blog of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, beat writer Phil Barber writes:

QB Andrew Walter underwent arthroscopic surgery on a knee Monday and should miss 4-6 weeks. He's expected to be ready for the start of training camp July 27.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

LB Charlton Keith, a classic tweener, was waived today. Opening up a roster space if you want to fantasize about the Kendall rumor.

We'll flag it here a few days ahead of time, since these are dog days for fans when readers may not check the site quite as often as they would otherwise . . .

This coming Sunday, June 10, the guy who doesn't object to being called "the Freud of Football"—Dr. John F. Murray—will unveil another Super Bowl analysis on his site which involves an Oakland victory. It'll be time for SB XV, in which the Raiders dispatched Dick Vermeil's Philadelphia Eagles 27-10.

Speaking just for ourselves, we've found the reports to date to be somewhat anticlimactic after all the hoopla, and the one on the 1976 team was definitely patronizing in tone (Pittsburgh would have been there instead of Oakland but for this excuse and that excuse). But hey! a reciprocal link is a reciprocal link, and you'll see this site linked (in infuriatingly small text) on his. His site is www.mentalperformanceindex.com.

It will be interesting to see how Dr. Murray treats the 1983 team three weeks later when it's time to analyze SB XVIII. That game was the most one-sided the NFL had seen up to that time.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

There is a rumor, and that's all it is at this point, a rumor, posted on the Contra Costa Times message board, to the effect that G Pete Kendall, currently with the Jets, will sign with the Raiders by the middle of this coming week. It's a good message board, and the poster is a known quantity on that board, but still, he gives no source for his information. Absent Kendall being cut, of course, the Raiders couldn't make contact with Kendall without drawing a tampering charge.

Still, it's a leap to go from simply not participating to the Jets cutting Kendall, which would have to happen before the Raiders could deal with Kendall's agent. So take it for what it is at this point, only an unsubstantiated rumor.

Source(s): Contra Costa Times discussion board, ProFootballTalk.com ("Rumor Mill")

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Where Are They Now Dept.: Former Raiders FS Anthony Dorsett, the 33-year-old son of the Dallas Hall of Fame running back, is attempting a comeback. He has signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Nicknamed "Doorstop" by fans in reference to his shoddy tackling, the younger Dorsett was paired with strong safety Marquez Pope to form one of the truly execrable safety tandems in Raiders history—Poop and Doorstop.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Raiders.com "Whatever Happened To . . ." series featured a genuine unsung hero two days ago, FB Frank Hawkins. Although it identified him as a running back ("RB") and pointed out (correctly) that he was the team's second leading rusher for three straight years (1983-85), in our view Hawkins' greatest achievement was his marvelous blocking for tailback Marcus Allen. 1985 was the year Marcus was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player; he averaged over 160 yards per game. Taking nothing away from Allen, who was a superb all-around back—blocking, receiving, and throwing the option pass as well as rushing—Hawkins deserves some of the credit for that year as well.

The Raiders had run from a split backs formation in years prior—an alignment which allows either back to carry or to block with almost equal ease—but beginning in 1985 they switched to the "I" formation to take advantage of Allen's superior ability to pick his holes. In the "I," of course, the lead back—nominally the halfback—is almost exclusively used for blocking, and that became Hawkins' role, although he was also a better-than-average receiver.

As the Raiders.com article points out, Hawkins now owns a general construction company in Reno.

On second thought: WR Jerry Porter was going to change his jersey number from 84 to 81, remember? Well, it seems he's just gotten a pair of bills, from the NFL and from the Raiders, adding up to $210,000, which is what the switch would cost him—the value, apparently, of the existing stock of Porter jerseys bearing No. 84 (NFL: $130K, Raiders: $80K). Faced with that big a bill Porter said, "Never mind," and will stick with No. 84, thank you very much. It's hard to blame him.

(The NFL's VP of PR, Greg Aiello, has thoughtfully suggested that Porter can minimize the damage if he waits a year before changing numbers so as to deplete a good part of the existing inventory. It seems that advance notice to Reebok and the Oakland Raiders helps cushion the blow, as it were. Aiello took pains to make clear that it's not the NFL that's demanding $130,000 from Jerry Porter, but rather Reebok. The softer, gentler NFL wouldn't do such a thing.)

The San Francisco Chronicle has confirmed that the team's third and final mini-camp—a voluntary affair—will be held June 11-13. We already had it on our site's NFL calendar.

And, the Chron confirms that Robert Gallery is continuing to work at the left guard position, with Barry Sims now holding down left tackle. The rest of the tentative starting O-line is Jake Grove, center; Cooper Carlisle, right guard; and Paul McQuistan, right tackle.

Monday, May 28, 2007

It's interesting that Lane Kiffin has reversed the tentative receiving assignments, and Ronald Curry, not Jerry Porter, is now being designated the team's flanker or slot receiver. Just three or four days back beat writers were duly reporting that Porter was to be the "Z", or slot guy, in Kiffin's offense, with new arrival Travis Taylor competing with Porter at the Z position, and Curry was to be the "X" receiver, the split end.

But in an article published today, Oakland Tribune columnist Monte Poole quotes Kiffin, "Curry fits our scheme as far as being a flanker, a guy we can move around, a guy who is good (against) a zone. (He's) a guy we can run zone options with and do some things with."

Typically slot receivers are bigger than split ends in today's NFL, but Curry and Porter are the same height, 6-2. Porter weighs 220 and Curry did in past seasons, but this year he's listed at 210, indicating to us that perhaps he's tried to become a little faster.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

On this site's Salary Cap page we discuss the ramifications of a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) called "Cap Relief for Veterans," which the union got included in the CBA as a means if encouraging teams (read: the owners) to keep older veterans who would otherwise naturally tend to get pushed out by salaries which increase with years of experience. It's a device of which the Raiders are fond; they use it for a number of their veterans each year as a way of managing their cap.

It can be used with an veteran with four years or more of experience, i.e., anyone who would normally qualify for unrestricted free agency. If the player signs a one-year contract for his minimum salary (as mandated by the CBA for his number of years of experience), his team is charged a bargain rate against the cap. It used to be $460,000, then dropped to $425,000 last season when the CBA extension was signed, and rises to $435,000 this year. Any player signing such a contract is limited to a maximum signing bonus of $40,000.

The Travis Taylor signing, as reported today by ProFootball365.com, presents a classic example. It's a one-year deal for $720,000, the minimum salary for a player of Taylor's experience, and will count $435,000 against the cap. Taylor got no signing bonus. Taylor gives up a chance at a big contract or one for a longer term for the short term, sure thing ("A bird in the hand . . ."

And he knows that if a bunch of other veterans do this, too, it strengthens his team as a whole by allowing it to sign a nucleus of established, experienced vets.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A bit more about the two newest Raiders. WR Travis Taylor was not only selected in the first round by Baltimore in 2000, he was the 10th overall pick that year. And he led Minnesota receivers last year with 57 grabs for 651 yards (an 11.42 average gain per catch.

At 6-1 and 210 pounds he's built like a possession receiver, and figures to give Ronald Curry a push at the split end position.

As for RB Curtis Brown, ya gotta like a running back who always averaged 5.0 yards or better in each of three varsity seasons with the BYU Cougars. He had a long run of 64 yards, plus he caught 115 passes for 1020 yards (average gain 8.87 yards per play), so he's clearly an experienced receiver.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Beat writers who guessed at Rich Snead's likely role in the Raiders personnel operations when his hire was first reported tended to arrive at a fairly similar conclusion, that he would have responsibility for maintaining up-to-date and close at hand a list of available free agents should coach Lane Kiffin or sidekick Mark Jackson need a name for a possible roster tweak.

We think Snead probably deserves much of the credit for the pair of free agents the Raiders signed today. Both these guys are solid roster additions, both in terms of depth and in terms of raising the level of competition.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Clarification: Rather than stating that rosters needed to be pared to 90 by this past weekend, a better phrasing is this one used by ESPN.com's John Clayton: "On average, teams have 90 players on the roster, a few more than regulation because the draft choices don't count against the 80-man limit until they sign their contracts." Duhhh . . . The limit is and has been eighty; the talk about ""getting down to ninety" referred to getting down to eighty plus unsigned players plus exemptions. We got caught with this one last year too, if memory serves—the (obviously unsigned) draft class . . . Since the Raiders have eleven drafted rookies, all of course unsigned at this point in time, they're copacetic with their present 94. Actually a bit under the limit, even, remembering that they have five NFL Europa exemptions.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Our thoughts and prayers are with R&B great Bo Diddley, who recently suffered a stroke and was reported placed in intensive care in western Iowa this past Wednesday. The 78-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (real name Ernest McDaniels) was listed in guarded condition at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, said Susan Clary, a publicist for the musician's management team. He was hospitalized after he appeared disoriented during a concert in Council Bluffs.

And in other music- and Raiders-related news—but definitely on a more upbeat note, and remembering how our very own JaMarcus Russell housed Fats Domino for a period of time after Hurricane Katrina had ravaged New Orleans—check out this article: Fats Domino Returns to New Orleans Stage.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which is the subject of a fascinating article in today's Sacramento Bee (and linked in our Articles section) has a traveling exhibit which will be at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum from May 28 to June 6.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

The Turk will be making the rounds in Alameda these next several days. The Raiders need to pare the roster to 85 (80 plus the five NFL Europa exemptions) by this weekend. Unfortunately we're not sure of the precise deadline.

RB Joe Echemandu sprained his ankle yesterday in practice. That's not great timing when you're listed as the No. 6 tailback on the depth chart and the coaches are looking to cut some players in the coming 48 hours.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

An ex-Raider has gotten himself embroiled, at least peripherally, in the Michael Vick dog-fighting investigation, according to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports.

Cole then goes on to relate assertions made by Chris Landry, a former NFL scout and one-time Yahoo! Sports analyst whose columns we enjoyed. Landry is now a Fox Sports Radio host. This past Friday, during an interview on 620 WDAE in Tampa, FL, Landry said that Ray Buchanan, a former Atlanta and Oakland defensive back, told him that Vick has been involved in dog fighting for years. Remember "Big Play Ray," whom the Raiders moved to free safety?

"(Buchanan) tells me that Michael has been into this dog fighting for so long that . . . he not only knew about, he is behind all of it," said Landry. "He's paying for all of it . . . Apparently, he's into it big time."

Contacted today by Yahoo! Sports, Buchanan vigorously denied having said anything of the kind. Said the talkative Buchanan: "I have to talk to Chris about all of that because I didn't say anything like that at all. If I was going to say any of that, I would have said it myself on my own radio program. I don't know anything about Michael being involved in any of that and I would not snitch on a player if I did. I'm a player's mouthpiece."

We'd never heard of Liberty University before the Raiders signed WR Lauren Williams—since allocated to NFL Europa—and, truthfully, we've never heard it mentioned since. But we learned a little bit about it today with the death due to an apparent heart attack of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, 73.

Turns out Liberty U. is a Baptist liberal arts school founded by Falwell in 1971 in Lynchburg, VA, with a current enrollment of about 20,000. It was originally known as Lynchburg Baptist College and then Liberty Baptist College before settling on its current name. We also found ads for a Liberty University Distance Learning program online, which Wikipedia says has about 25,000 more students.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Where Are They Now Dept.: One-time Raider DT Sam Adams, all 350 pounds of him, was released today by the Bungles. Signed by Cincinnati last year as a UFA from Buffalo, he started all 16 games for Marvin Lewis and wasn't arrested even once.

Friday, May 11, 2007

We're pleased to report a development which surfaced May 7, but which we've just now seen today. Hard-working RB ReShard Lee, a restricted free agent, was re-signed on Monday.

Lee is a favorite of ours, and has been since it became apparent in 2006 training camp that he and the guy with the funny nickname—which we've truthfully forgotten (something with "hurt" in it)—were fighting it out for the last running back spot. Lee runs harder, catches better, and is a willing blocker, and we were happy to see him get the nod. He was also the team's best receiver out of the backfield last year once Lamont Jordan's very ordinary hands had been exposed.

But . . . with the increased competition at running back, between the free agents and draft pick Michael Bush, Lee has his work cut out for him simply making the 53-man roster this season. He's not as flashy or quick afoot as Justin Fargas, but he's a better blocker and receiver and he comes a lot cheaper, too. (Say what you will, cost is always a factor in the NFL.

) We'll be rooting for him.

Terms of the contract weren't announced, of course, in usual Raiders fashion, and because Lee doesn't rate a leaky-mouthed agent who blabs all the details to ESPN.com five minutes after it's done. But we assume he signed the tender as it was made in March, which was reported to be $850,000. That's for one year, of course, and represents a 100% raise over the $425,000 Lee made last season.

So how about showing us the halfback option pass once in a while, huh, coach Kiffin? Tom Walsh let Ron Curry heave one last year . . . the play works a lot more naturally (and is much easier to disguise until the last minute) using a back rather than running an end-around. Anyone remember another Raiders tailback from the past who used to throw the option pass? Click here for a reminder.

In today's Philadelphia Daily News, columnist Paul Domowitch explains why NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock won't be coming to work for the Raiders—assuming that they even replace the departed Michael Lombardi. (We read this elsewhere previously, but don't recall where.)

(As an aside, some writers have opined that since the Lane Kiffin-Mark Jackson-Al Davis troika has essentially taken on and is performing all the responsibilities of a traditional general manager, the Raiders might not replace Lombardi at all. The Raiders organization is anything but conventional in its structure.)

Mayock is a single dad living in the Philly area with full custody of his two children, a daughter who's a college freshman and a son who's a high school sophomore. He wouldn't be willing to uproot the family.

Mayock told the paper, "Al Davis had expressed an interest in me a year ago. At that point, I told him the timing was not good for me and kind of backed out of it early. So I don't know what [the job] could have been or couldn't have been. Why it's surfacing now I have no idea."

Active candidates, according to Jerry McDonald, Adam Schefter, and others, include ex-Minnesota VP of player personnel Fran Foley; Tennessee Titans director of player personnel Rich Snead; Jeff Foster of the National Football Scouting Service, the organization which puts on the Scouting Combine (and the man who basically first created the event); and possibly NFL.com's Pat Kirwan, a former Jets personnel exec. Schefter goes so far as to refer vaguely to "numerous candidates."

Source(s): Philadelphia Daily News, NFL.com, "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com)

The Raiders' third and final mini-camp, a voluntary affair, will be held June 11-13. At that time the team is expected to reduce the roster from the current 96 to approximately 85. Or at least that's what the San Luis Obisbo Tribune reported this week in an article on rookie free agent LB Kyle Shotwell, who starred at Cal Poly-SLO.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Readers will hopefully recall that some three weeks back we mentioned a sports psychologist, Dr. John F. Murray, who is analyzing—one game per week—past Super Bowls using a Mental Performance Index he has devised. He claims that understanding and measuring the mental aspects of sports competition has, for example, allowed him to forecast the results of four of the past five Super Bowls more accurately than the point spread.

Murray publishes a new report on his web site each Sunday. He began in February with the first game, which pitted Green Bay and Kansas City in January, 1967, and followed that a week later with Oakland's pasting at the hands of Lombardi's crew a year later in SB II.

We mention his site again now because this week he's on Super Bowl XI, the contest in which Oakland demolished Minnesota. Here's the link to read his analysis of the game.

Monday, May 7, 2007

The rookies are gone until May 15th, per the NFL rule requiring them to be absent from the teams' facilities—with the exception of one permitted weekend—until their school terms conclude. Coach Lane Kiffin says he fully supports the rule, reasoning that rookies eager to make the team would all be in camp if they could be when it's important to encourage them to try to complete their education.

The veterans will have a week of lifting to look forward to, with "organized team activities" (OTAs)—informal practices not barred by the CBA—beginning on the 15th.

We just saw this today . . . on April 30, one-time Raiders DT Rod Coleman underwent surgery to repair a ruptured right quadriceps that could keep Atlanta's standout defensive tackle sidelined into September. Falcons spokesman Reggie Roberts confirmed that Coleman was injured in a boating accident recently.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

In a draft "report card" just published a few hours ago, Fox Sports' John Czarnecki makes this claim: "There is no doubt that [Al] Davis wanted LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell because he asked the Browns for a one, a two and a three, plus a starting linebacker, for the right to draft Russell. Cleveland choked."

Interesting, although obviously there's no way to know if it's remotely accurate. Recall that the Brownies did draft Brady Quinn, who had said repeatedly how badly he wanted to play in Cleveland.

The Quarshie conundrum: It didn't make any sense that DT Michael Quarshie was still on the roster when he wasn't tendered as an exclusive rights free agent back in March. It also didn't work with the math, we figured out. There are 91 players at camp; that plus the 5 in NFL Europa equal the 96 on our roster when we omit Quarshie. So scratch the Columbia product.

The Raiders.com roster is much more accurate these days than it was a year or two back, but its accuracy still leaves something to be desired. We noticed at least a half dozen players in their mid-twenties or older who grew an inch taller over this past winter.

Lane Kiffin had a few interesting comments late yesterday. WR Johnathan Holland is out for an estimated three weeks after separating his shoulder. Tyler Brayton is playing strictly at defensive tackle this camp as the staff evaluates him. Paul McQuistan is playing strictly at guard for now; they don't want to overload him. If he were to move to tackle it would come later in the year. And finally, Kevin Boothe is competing with newcomer Cooper Carlisle at right guard.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

This from the Chronicle's David White in a blog post yesterday: "Personnel director Michael Lombardi could be headed out the door, according to media reports. He is scheduled to meet with Al Davis on Tuesday, and could either be fired or quit at that time."

Also on Friday, Jerry McDonald reiterated in his blog that the Raiders are interested in hiring NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, but that "there is a question of whether Mayock is interested in relocating to the West Coast."

Mayock has a strong background, including a brief NFL career, a brief stint coaching, and analysis for three different networks. We think he'd make a great personnel man, assuming he wants to work in the quirky kingdom that is Raiderland.

McDonald also mentions, as someone the Raiders might pursue, NFL.com's Pat Kirwan, whose columns we thoroughly enjoy. He has a background in pro player personnel (with the Jests) and in coaching.

Source(s): "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com), San Francisco Chronicle

Position changes: Darnell Bing has been moved back to (strong) safety, a change he had requested. Coach Lane Kiffin avoided saying who made the final call but explained, "We just talked as a staff and thought his best shot at making the team was to put him back at safety, where he's more comfortable and played his whole career until last year."

As McDonald rightly opines in the blog mentioned above, Bing playing at strong safety could free up (pun intended) wispy Michael Huff to play free safety, where he could really use his fine speed to full advantage. The loser would of course be incumbent Stuart Schweigert. He gives a great effort, but we're tired of holding our breath every time he has to make a tackle.

The initial offensive line, as reported by Chron beat writer David White, seems strange to us. It features Robert Gallery at left tackle, McQuistan at left guard, Jake Grove where you'd expect, Cooper Carlisle at right guard, and Barry Sims at right tackle. What's strange about that? Right tackles on most teams today tend to be substantially bigger (and slower) than their counterparts on the left, who require agility; right tackles, since they normally play on the team's strong side, are expected to be strong if not dominating run blockers. Gallery outweighs Sims by 25 pounds and had his only decent season playing at right tackle. We're also surprised at seeing McQuistan in the lineup ahead of Kevin Boothe, who took his job last year.

(The Santa Rosa Press Democrat did mention Boothe, actually. According to that account (beat writer Phil Barber), "Cooper Carlisle and Kevin Boothe shared time at right guard, while Sims and Cornell Green both saw work at right tackle.")

Does Tom Cable know what he's doing? Some readers may recall that we lobbied for a different OL coach, one who's older and has considerably more NFL experience—not that anyone listened. But we'll be keeping a critical eye on Cable for results. He won't have a running quarterback here to pad his team's rushing stats by a thousand yards like he did in Atlanta.

On defense the one apparent change in the starting unit was the insertion of Kevin Huntley at right defensive end, at the expense of Tyler "No Sacks" Brayton. Brayton saw some reps at defensive tackle with the second unit.

Source(s): "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com), San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

We were sure we'd seen G Corey Hulsey's re-signing reported back around April 1, and we duly repeated it, but he's nowhere to be found on the Raiders.com roster, so we suppose he's gone. In our view, it's a shame. He was a five-year vet, meaning he would have cost the minimum $595K, he was mean, and he could play center as well as guard. Remember pre-season 2006, in the days just before the HOF Game, when Jake Grove got hurt? Art Shell moved Hulsey ahead of Adam Treu as the starting center. Treu the technician, Hulsey the mauler—in past years there was room for both. This time Treu's genuinely fighting for his job with a bunch of guys who must seem like junior high kids to him. But anyway, wasn't there room for Hulsey as a backup? For several years we'd felt that Hulsey and Chad Slaughter were the really pivotal backups on the offensive line.

Another anomaly on the roster as it appears online—Michael Quarshie's still listed even though the Raiders didn't even make the effort to protect his rights by making him a minimum tender. Strange . . .

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Whew!! We got wiped out with covering the draft this year! We're not getting any younger, and the Raiders drafting eleven players as well as swapping picks with other clubs twice made for a lot of action as well. The hands and wrists—neuropathy being the medical term— have been on fire all week . . .

We have three folks or companies who are due for acknowledgment here today. First, the hot one . . . We've been asked to trade links with a fan site for JaMarcus Russell, and naturally, we were happy to oblige. Ecstasy is not too strong a word to describe our feelings when the Raiders did the expected and took the Mobile native No. 1 last Saturday. Long-time readers know we regretted the Raiders passing on Ben Roethlisberger several years back, but this time they've hit an even bigger jackpot, we think. It's not just size or arm strength, although those are certainly factors. It's having some mobility even with that size, having moxie under pressure, being a leader—the intangibles only the quarterback can really bring to the huddle. We think the Raiders got the best quarterback of the last decade and it was pure luck that they had the No. 1 pick in the year he was available.

Anyway, the fan site claims to top the Google rankings for Russell's name at present and to have received 17,000 hits between last Saturday and today. You'll find it on our links page.

Second, the fan who corrected us about Super Bowl XI and Willie Brown's long int return is none other than Donn Reed of Cloverdale, CA, a reader of this site since it began in 1995! He contacted us promptly after we mentioned losing his e-mail to say that some of his friends would like to see him credited for the correction, so here it is. Donn and I both came aboard as fans in 1967, interestingly—a great year for the Raiders. Eleven Angry Men on defense (with a subset, the Soul Patrol, in the secondary), Lamonica throwing bombs to Warren Wells and long outs to Bill Miller and Fred Biletnikoff, Hewritt Dixon running both inside and on the sweep (and don't forget Pete Banaszak!)—it was a versatile team, coached by John Rauch. The Raiders opened the season by demolishing the Denver Donks, 51-0, and earned the right to get pummeled by Green Bay with a 40-7 thrashing of Houston in the AFL Championship Game. Donn grew up about 25 miles from Santa Rosa, where the Raiders trained at the (in)famous Tropicana Motel (scene of Ted Hendricks' famous horse ride and other assorted stunts).

One of these days we'll get that 1967 team properly added to our Super Bowl Gallery, a feature which unfortunately has lagged badly the last several years as our health has also lagged. We have lots of material, but all the extra keystrokes are directly related to the state of our neuropathy, and these days the extra typing just isn't feasible.

Finally, we have a new sponsor on some of the pages of the site—the most viewed pages, we should say. As is generally the case, it's a ticket reseller, GoTickets, located in Illinois. And naturally, we commend them to you if ever you want to see a Raiders game that's sold out. Resellers always charge a substantial premium—they're middlemen, after all, and they tell you up front that you're going to pay considerably more than face value—but the good ones furnish exceptional service and have the customer testimonials to back it up. As does GoTickets. If you're curious, click on the little image in their ad (top of page) and read some of the testimonials; you'll be impressed.

So, should you have need of tickets to a game that's sold out, say, or a pack of tickets which are located together that you couldn't get normally, we encourage you to patronize our sponsor and be sure to drop our name in the process!

Monday, April 30, 2007

Last update (we promise) / <Soapbox alert>: The Chron's Nancy Gay bitterly criticizes Lane Kiffin today for letting Randy Moss go for a fourth-rounder. She says he should have taken up the challenge of coaching Moss to produce. R-I-I-I-I-G-H-T.

ANG writer Jerry McDonald talks sense about the Moss trade today. It was good for the team and, frankly, would have been beneficial had it been only a sixth-rounder. What we received in compensation was of secondary importance to the overriding need to jettison Moss' poisonous attitude.

Late update: Steve Corkran of MediaNews wrote, in an article principally about the Randy Moss trade, that the upcoming mini-camp would run Thursday through Sunday. Our knee jerk reaction was to change our NFL calendar and think, "Aha! A scoop!" But it doesn't make sense; the union would be squawking in an instant about a four-day camp. And sure enough, fellow MediaNews writer Bill Soliday wrote in a different piece that the camp runs Friday through Sunday—three days, five practices. That's the norm.

The only reason the Raiders are allowed three camps this year instead of the normal two is because new head coaches get an extra camp. It's been the only advantage to Oakland's coaching carousel of the past few years.

Correction: We were politely taken to task by a reader, whose e-mail unfortunately got lost, who pointed out that we wrongly attributed the "old man Willie Brown" line from SB XI to Curt Gowdy, when we should have said it was the great Bill King.

Dropping the editorial "we" for a moment, I'm a recovering alcoholic. I've been sober a long time now, since 1981. But when I watched that game in 1977 I was, ahem, excrement-faced on an empty stomach, and it's a wonder I remember any of it at all. Not much of an apology, I know . . . Thanks to the reader, whom I'd name here if I could.

And now, back to the "we."

Bill Soliday of MediaNews says we can expect Zach Miller to become the Raiders' full-time tight end. Coach Lane Kiffin said something very similar in summing up the draft, that the team thought Miller was the complete package and they had drafted him with that in mind. No more tight end-by-committee. Which doesn't bode well for Randal Williams, either, we'd think.

On Saturday ESPN.com's John Clayton wrote that the team has told TE Courtney Anderson that he's on the trading block.

Scout.com, in subscriber-only articles, is reporting that the Raiders have signed an undrafted O-lineman, a linebacker, and a cornerback, in addition to WR Chris McFoy.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

At pick 36 (99 overall) the Raiders chose UTEP WR Johnnie Lee Higgins. A strange pick even if Moss were leaving tomorrow; we just got Williams. Where are all the offensive linemen? But then you read the profile and you know why: in this age of ever bigger receivers the guy's somewhat smallish, but he's "[p]ossibly the fastest player in the collegiate ranks," and when could Al Davis ever pass on that?

Postscript: Asked later about Higgins, coach Lane Kiffin emphasized Higgins' abilities as a returner, saying the Raiders want to upgrade that facet of their game.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

As a number of Bay Area writers have pointed out, the Raiders are doing their due diligence and conducting preliminary sparring, er . . , negotiating, with representatives of the three prospects from whom the top pick will almost certainly come. Chron columnist Nancy Gay points out in today's Gate podcast that Oakland may face a holdout if it selects JaMarcus Russell, since Russell's agent is likely to demand more guaranteed money ($28M) than the Raiders want to pay ($26M). Then again, dealing with agents for Calvin Johnson and Brady Quinn as well as Russell may have the salutary effect of leveraging the negotiations somewhat so that the eventual pick's opening position is a little more reasonable vis a vis the Raiders' resources.

Managing general partner Al Davis is known as a players' owner to a considerable degree, but it's also plain to any agent who's done his or her homework that Oakland is not a cash-rich franchise. Davis is a lot closer in terms of cash flow to Ralph Wilson of Buffalo—with whom he rarely agrees—than he is to Jerry Jones of Dallas, with whom he's on friendly terms. (NFL owners are a strange bunch . . .

)

We hope we have the time to write an opinion piece before Saturday on our preferences, but we doubt we will. Sadly, all the Windows re-installations over the past several months robbed us of precious time we would have used in normal years to (1) update our draft site links; and (2) write one or more pieces of guidance for the Raiders to follow in making their selections. (Not that they ever would . . .

)

But since we probably won't get it done, in short, here's our opinion. We think you have to think big when you get the No. 1 overall. There's only one guy available who could change the fortunes of an entire franchise almost singlehandedly for the next ten years, and a player so freakishly talented only comes along once every ten or fifteen years. It would be criminal not to roll the dice on JaMarcus Russell. If he doesn't pan out? Hey, we've sucked since 2002 anyway. Seriously! We say, Russell or bust!!

Source(s): San Francisco Chronicle, "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com), Santa Rosa Press Democrat

We were reminded by a blurb in a Chronicle article by beat writer David White, and will duly remind our readers, that the Raiders customarily hold a mandatory, full squad mini-camp a week after the draft, at which time they have a chance to make their first evaluation of how their draft class stacks up in drills against professionals. And so the mini-camp will run <drum roll> for the days May 4-6, 2007, a Friday-through-Sunday weekend.

The mini-camp already appeared in this site's NFL calendar. <Plug time> We work assiduously—like that word?

—to provide the most complete calendar possible for Raiders fans year-round. Reader contributions are always appreciated!

New numbers; Bookman waived: Per the Raiders.com roster, CB Kris Richard will wear No. 38 and DT Josh Small No. 95. And the Raiders.com Transactions page shows that WR Leo Bookman, the track guy who spent 2006 on the practice squad, was waived on Tuesday. We've posted an up-to-date roster on the site.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Late update: This note, swiped verbatim from a fantasy column today on USA Today, was itself swiped (it sounds like) from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Just what we need (not). A big, slow receiver from La-La Land to take more well deserved reps away from the oh-so-deserving Ronald Curry.

We're pleased to see that apparently no one around the NFL is making as big a deal over the three draft prospects and their admissions of marijuana use last week as we feared they might when we reported the development. To us—in our addled old age—there has always been a major distinction between pot and almost any other recreational drug. That's not to say that some people don't get into trouble with marijuana use, but the great majority, frankly, don't. When we were in college—in the '60s—those who didn't use marijuana were probably in the minority. Yet most pot users went about their business, still studied and went to class, finished school, avoided graduating to heroin and methamphetamine, managed to resist committing mass murder or going on wild orgies, and avoided all the rest of the grossly exaggerated evils that are forecast by conservative anti-drug lobbyists. The same cannot be said of, e.g., cocaine or even alcohol, which is of course 100% legal. All that said, the establishment still makes marijuana illegal in most jurisdictions and the NFL's drug policy definitely considers it a no-no. Things could have shaken out a lot worse for Messrs. Johnson, Okoye and Adams.

Personnel moves: Yesterday Scout.com reported that the Raiders had released two veterans, G Brad Badger and DE Lance Johnstone, and signed two extremely low profile free agents.

With Johnstone there were performance issues and young DE Kevin Huntley figures to push Tommy Kelly for starting time opposite Derrick Burgess on the defensive line. (They might well platoon, with Kelly playing on obvious rushing downs and Huntley in for passing situations.) Johnstone was making $1 million per year on a two-year contract signed in 2006. He had knee and toe problems through much of the second half of 2006, ended up on IR, and underwent surgery during this off-season, so all in all it was hardly shocking.

Badger, however, comes as at least a mild surprise to us because of his versatility. Art Shell almost never used him last year, but that doesn't mean much, since numerous decisions Shell made weren't particularly rational (e.g., moving Robert Gallery to left tackle even though he'd never been able to beat out Barry Sims in head-to-head competition). Badger could arguably fill in at any interior line position except center and had shown (in 2005) the ability to play through pain—he started most of the games that season with a badly strained ligament in his knee but never complained. Of course, 10-year veterans cost more than younger no-names, although they can be signed to the minimum salary deals without bonuses that, cap-wise, count much less. See our salary cap page for an explanation of the so-called "Cap Relief for Veterans." Badger's minimum as a 10-year veteran would have been $820,000 in 2007.

The new faces are a cornerback last with San Francisco and a defensive tackle with a grand total of eight tackles on his résumé.

CB Kris Richard is a four-year NFL vet, the bulk of whose experience came playing at Seattle, which drafted him out of USC in the third round in 2002. During 2003-04 he collected 50 tackles and a sack while appearing in 31 games. Seattle traded him to Miami for Ronald Flemons in 2005, where he was apparently cut, because the Whiners also signed him in 2005. He played in only one game in 2005, so that season doesn't count as an accrued season of experience under CBA rules. Richard stands 5-11 and weighs 190 pounds. It's hard to see him cracking Oakland's 53-man roster—at least unless, as Jerry McDonald hinted recently, the Raiders have soured on CB Stanford Routt—but he'll be a body for camps and drills at least.

Josh Shaw, a Michigan State alum, is the defensive tackle. Like Richard, he's also kicked around the NFL since 2002 but has only two accrued seasons on his record and a total of eight tackles. It would appear from his profile on NFL.com that in two of the other years (2003 and 2005) he was either on practice squads or IR status; and he was apparently out of football in 2006. He's big enough to be a run stuffer—6-3 and 305. Beyond that, we don't know much to say about him save that he was affiliated with the Whiners for two seasons (2002-03) and the Fish for two (2004-05). Oh, and we'll note in passing that he had a four game substance abuse suspension by the league while with the Whiners in 2003, and entered a rehab program in Florida. We don't know enough about the current rules to know if that means another violation some years later would trigger enhanced penalties or not.

Source(s): Scout.com (Silver & Black Illustrated Online, Google.com, NFL.com, Wikipedia

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The news has just broken—apparently leaked by one or more NFL teams—that three top draft prospects admitted to marijuana use during confidential interviews at the scouting combine last February.

The three named in the report are Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, Louisville DT Amobi Okoye, and Clemson DE Gaines Adams.

Interestingly, the University of Louisville promptly came to the defense of Okoye, issuing a statement which said, "Amobi spoke to an NFL team in confidence and a team leaked out the information which is truly unfortunate for Amobi. Anyone Amobi has come in contact with during his time at the University of Louisville knows the character this young man has. The Cardinal football program stands behind him 100 percent."

Notwithstanding the character endorsement, perhaps they should talk to the agent for Raider Anttaj Hawthorne about what a marijuana issue in a player's background does to his economic bargaining power. Hawthorne played for the rookie minimum his first year even after the Raiders traded up to get him at the very top of the sixth round.

Until now all three of the players mentioned figured to be certain first round picks, with Johnson widely expected to go in the top five and perhaps even No. 1. They may still be seen as highly desirable, but worth much less so far as what they can command by way of their rookie contracts. This will be especially true if under the Collective Bargaining Agreement they can be subjected to drug testing based on their pre-NFL admissions. (We don't know the answer to that one. Someone who might would be lawyer Mike Florio, who writes the "Rumor Mill" column at www.ProFootballTalk.com. Stay tuned . . .

We're not sure if free agent CB Tory James actually visited Alameda—it had been rumored he would—but he's now out of the picture as far as availability, having agreed on a one-year deal with the Patsies. As ANG Jerry McDonald pointed out, he would have been strictly a depth signing for the Raiders; no way he was going to replace either starter, Nnamdi Asomugha or Fabian Washington.

Source(s): Contra Costa Times, "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com)

Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn worked out for the Raiders this week, completing the triad of players from which it's widely assumed the top pick will come on April 28. Oakland had a visit from Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson prior to its mini-camp, and LSU QB JaMarcus Russell passed through Alameda last week.

Teams are allowed a maximum of thirty pre-draft visits from collegiate athletes. Other players the Raiders have entertained include (in no particular order): QBs Trent Edwards (Stanford) and John Beck (BYU), RB Marshawn Lynch (Cal), WRs Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith (USC), RBs Jackie Battle (Houston) and Josh Allen (Maryland), TE Rodney Hannah (Houston), DE Justin Hickman (UCLA), LB Nick Roach (Northwestern), and of course—this being the Raiders

—a couple of cornerbacks, Geoffrey Pope (Howard) and John Bowie (Cincinnati).

AP Raiders beat writer Josh Dubow wanted an assessment of the Raiders' drafting acumen over the past decade or two, and for it he went to several veteran draft analysts whom we respect, the NFL Network's Mike Mayock and NFL.com draft guru Gil Brandt. Unlike some, e.g. Mel Kiper, Mayock and Brandt each concentrate on the players and virtually never toot their own horns or those of their employers. It doesn't hurt Mayock's credibility in our humble estimation that he says bluntly that JaMarcus Russell is a once-in-a-decade draft opportunity.

We agree. Brandt has been around for eons and is part of the radio team covering the draft's first day each year; his memory is encyclopedic.

Here are a couple of their comments about Oakland's (read: Al Davis') draft record:

As to the last of these comments, about Robert Gallery, we're in agreement as to the first three sentences. The jury is definitely out on the last sentence, though.

Source(s): Contra Costa Times wire services, "Inside the Oakland Raiders" blog (InsideBayArea.com), Gerald Hibbard, Associated Press

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

There's a great "Whatever Happened To..." feature today on Raiders.com about Steve Sylvester, a real unsung hero who played center, guard and tackle (and served as a long snapper) for the Raiders for nine years and went to all three of the team's winning Super Bowl efforts. He got no publicity whatever while he was playing, so it's nice to see the team give him some attention now, even if it is only a pretty cursory Q&A.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Over the past few months we've had occasional correspondence with a sports psychologist, Dr. John F. Murray, who has devised a Mental Performance Index ("MPI") which he says accurately measures and predicts athletic performance under stress. Murray, a one-time serious tennis player who is now a licensed clinical and sports psychologist, works most closely with pro tennis players, but also works with athletes in general and has analyzed the forty-one Super Bowls played between 1967 and 2007 using his index. He says his index allows one to make direct head-to-head comparisons of different teams over the years and pick the best team of all time, the best defense, the best special teams unit, etc. It's intriguing and makes for good conversation at the least.

We've linked Murray's site on this site's Links page today. Each week during 2007 he's rolling out a new analysis of another game, beginning with Super Bowl I and moving forward in time. He states he analyzes every play of each game; we haven't had a chance to check out his site yet but we intend to in the next day or two.

Murray started the Super Bowl parade on Feb. 25, so at one game per week, to date he's covered only one Oakland appearance in the Big Enchilada—our first losing effort (1968) against the Vince Lombardi-led Pack. As of this writing, he's on SB VII. Our (Oakland's) next appearance, the Raiders' 1977 thumping of the Vikings in SB XI—think of Bill King hollering, "Old man Willie Brown!"—should appear in about another 3-4 weeks. (The one unitary URL works for the various different parts of Murray's site; JavaScript sleight-of-hand accounts for shuffling sections around without the URL in the address bar changing.)

(We will note that Murray's bio points out that he grew up in South Florida, so we'd expect a strong pro-Dan Marino bias but for the fact that Marino never played in a Super Bowl.

We've peeked ahead, however, to a press release involving 2002, the year in which Murray came up with his index and the first time he used it to predict a Super Bowl outcome in advance; naturally, he picked Chucky's team to wallop the Raiders in the Jan. 2003 game.)

Saturday, April 14, 2007

SS Colin Branch, a free agent who spent his first four seasons in Carolina, visited the Raiders on Thursday. His brother, Calvin, has been with Oakland as both a player and a scout.

Arron Sears, an offensive lineman from Tennessee considered a potential first-round draft choice, was scheduled to visit Friday.

Some dates, courtesy of the Chron: The two road exhibitions will be played on August 18 and 30 at San Francisco and Seattle, respectively, as those teams have released that information. And the Raiders training camp will begin on July 27 at Napa. If it follows the form of past years players will check in during the late afternoon or early evening, with practices starting the following morning.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

It's undoubtedly not kosher to re-post another fan's post from a public forum without his or her permission, but we were afraid this one might disappear given the steady traffic which the CC Times Raiders fan forum gets. Links to particular posts there simply stop working fairly quickly, often within a matter of a few hours. What is of interest here, in our humble opinion, is ESPN analyst Merrill Hoge's comments about how the Raiders should approach the coming draft. It would cost a fortune—being practical for a moment—to implement what Hoge suggests, but the strategy is breathtaking in its scope. (We have linked to the post in the Articles section as well.) And so now, without further ado, we present the post of fan Bendown:

What do we think about it? We thought you'd never ask . . .

We love the idea! We're not sold on Peterson as the No. 2, given that—as no less an authority on running backs than Marcus Allen wrote just last week—Peterson absorbs a lot more punishment than is necessary, which raises questions about how long a career he'll have in the NFL. We'd prefer WR Calvin Johnson, especially if we're giving up a home run threat of a receiver to get the pick. Or even T Joe Thomas. But the idea of the two top picks is mind-boggling . . .

This rumor's not new, but it was floated again in a Sunday column: Alex Marvez, of the [South Florida] Sun-Sentinel, reports the Oakland Raiders could be the best fit for Miami Dolphins QB Daunte Culpepper. Team owner Al Davis loves the idea of being able to reunite Culpepper with WR Randy Moss. Oakland would then bypass Louisiana State QB JaMarcus Russell to draft Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, who would give the team a lethal combination at wide receiver.

A more definite rumor, courtesy of the Denver Post, is that Donk free agent G Cooper Carlisle will visit Alameda, possibly/probably as soon as this week. Carlisle has already been to Seattle and Tampa Bay. He's 6-6 and weighs 295.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Late update: On a completely different note than today's earlier items, we note—belatedly, because of computer problems—that the NFL confirmed a week ago today that it would be late in releasing this season's final schedule. The revised plan called for release some time between today and April 19.

And we note, also in regard to dates, that the ANG's Jerry McDonald makes mention of the Raiders' voluntary mini-camp having at least one of its days tomorrow (Tuesday). From the dearth of any mention of said camp in the other local media today we infer that tomorrow's practices will mark the first day of the camp, so presumably it runs Tuesday through Thursday (April 10-12).

Kudos, kudos and more kudos to ANG NFL columnist Jerry McDonald for a wonderfully balanced column, "A fateful collision," which apparently appeared the evening of Darryl Stingley's death but which we didn't come upon until this evening. (McDonald's blog posts often don't appear online, we suspect, until the wee hours of the morning following their dateline, but all the same, we didn't see it last evening.)

Sunday, April 8, 2007

The NFL Network reported that Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson visited Raiders headquarters last Wednesday and LSU QB JaMarcus Russell will stop by Alameda this coming week.

Also, the team will have a first, voluntary mini-camp for veterans this coming week. In the past such camps have generally run from Friday through Sunday, but with a new coach, things might be different this time around.

Disclaimer: What follows has nothing to do with the Raiders, or even with NFL football, for that matter. But for those who simply like to read, we came across—and recommend—these two highly interesting articles today: