Debate the Oakland Raiders offseason possibilities in The Football Fan Forum
2010 Preview:
The Raiders might not completely stink this year. Given the players they’ve added this offseason and the lack of talent in this division outside of San Diego, they appear likely to finish 2nd in this division this year. Jason Campbell isn’t a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback, but he’s certainly going to help this team. He was, statistically, a solid quarterback last year and he is now moving to a scheme that fits his arm strength better and, with the maturation of Louis Murphy, Chaz Schilens, and yes, even Darrius Heyward Bey, as well as the additions of Bruce Campbell and Jared Veldheer to the offensive line through the draft, he may actually have a better supporting cast on offense in Oakland than he had last year in Washington.
The only main issue with Jason Campbell is his leadership skills and maturity. For all of his solid production last year, he only won 4 games despite having a good defense on his side. Those 4 games were against 4 teams that won a combined 17 games last year. He was 2-8 in games decided by 8 or fewer points last year. That’s not a good sign of maturity. Lack of maturity and leadership does not mix well with the Raiders and that could keep them from being the 8-8 team they could be this year. Still, I think they’ll win more than 5 games for the first time since 2003.
Projection: 6-10 2nd in AFC West
Power Ranking: 22
Last season: 5-11
Draft:
#8 MLB Rolando McClain (Alabama)
Huh? Rolando McClain isn’t fast. This doesn’t make any sense. McClain is a good prospect, but he doesn’t fit a 4-3 defense that well and the Raiders already have a good player at middle linebacker in Kirk Morrison, in fact, he’s one of their best. Plus, for a bad team like the Raiders, McClain doesn’t have the positional value. There’s a reason he was the highest drafted middle linebacker in 15 years. Plus, this doesn’t seem like an Al Davis pick at all. McClain isn’t fast. I think he made this pick because it allows him to piss off his fan base without making everyone in the mock draft community who said he’d go with a fast guy wrong.
Grade: C-
#44 DT LaMarr Houston (Texas)
A quarterback would have been preferable, but this is a decent pick. It fits the draft range and fills a bit of a need, but it doesn’t have a huge positional value. The Raiders really need a quarterback or to draft a left tackle to protect a quarterback. Also, Houston isn’t a great athlete like Al Davis likes. What is going on? Is Al Davis secretly dead? Is that rumor I heard about scouts giving Al Davis fake 40 times true?
Grade: B-
#69 OT Jared Veldheer (Hillsdale)
Well, the Raiders finally took a great athlete, Veldheer is 6-8 312 with a 5.05 40 time. However, if Al Davis was really making these picks, this would have been Bruce Campbell. I still don’t understand what happened to him. Overall, this was a decent pick and fills a need of positional value, but there were better options at the left tackle position.
Grade: B+
#106 OT Bruce Campbell (Maryland)
Hey, Al Davis is back. Bruce Campbell is a great athlete at 6-6 314 4.84, but he’s also the best available at this point, so, unlike most Al Davis picks, it’s actually a good pick. I think what happened is that Al Davis forgot that the draft was on a Thursday this year, because he was too busy decomposing, and didn’t show up until Saturday.
Grade: A
#108 WR Jacoby Ford (Clemson)
Yep, this is an Al Davis pick. Ford had the best 40 time at the combine, but he’s also in the draft range and fills a need.
Grade: A
#138 CB Walter McFadden (Auburn)
Another great athlete? Yep, Al Davis is definitely back. 5-11 181 4.40. Corner wasn’t a huge need for them, but it was a bit of a need and McFadden isn’t too far out of the draft range.
Grade: B
#190 MLB Travis Goethel (Arizona State)
Now, this is actually pretty funny. I can imagine this, Al Davis forgot the draft was on Thursday, showed up on Saturday angry because his assistants were making “bad” picks. He saw that they drafted Rolando McClain and said, “he runs a 4.69 40. He’s not good” so he drafted Goethel here who runs a 4.56. Not sure how Goethel helps them because he’s the 2nd middle linebacker they’ve drafted this weekend, but he fits the range and could probably play another position.
Grade: B-
#215 CB Jeremy Ware (Michigan State)
Ware is one of the prospects who got drafted that I had never heard of, which is a surprise because I looked at about 400-450 prospects’ profiles to make my top 300 prospects Big Board. When he was drafted, I looked him up and found out he ran a mid 4.3 40 at his Pro Day. There we go. That makes sense. However, I don’t like the pick. The Raiders didn’t have to take another cornerback and because I haven’t heard of him, he probably shouldn’t have been drafted.
Grade: C-
#251 S Stevie Brown (Michigan)
Another prospect I haven’t heard of. I looked him up and couldn’t find a profile for him on ESPN or a 40 time. I think it’s safe to say he was a waste of a pick.
Grade: D
Overall:
I think this whole draft moving to a Thursday worked out for the Raiders. Al Davis could not be present for days 1-3, because he forgot, so they actually made some decent picks with their first 3 picks. Then, when he came back for rounds 4-7, he took his signature great athletes, but it’s okay because they are high upside guys and that’s the type of player you want in the 4th-7th rounds. If I were grading on a curve and comparing this draft to their drafts in years past, I’d give this draft an A. However, they did do some questionable things with their late round picks and they took Rolando McClain in the first, who was barely an upgrade over Kirk Morrison, and then traded Morrison for the right to move up from the 5th to the 4th round. However, overall, they got some good players, some good upside guys, they upgraded the offensive line, and they traded for a quarterback (Jason Campbell), so I think it’s safe to say this team could win more than 5 games next year for the first time in 7 years.
Grade: B (not including the Jason Campbell trade because that technically had nothing to do with their draft)
Key undrafted free agents
RB Andre Anderson (Tulane)
DE Alex Daniels (Cincinnati)
FB Manese Tonga (BYU)
G Alex Parsons (USC)
Positions of need:
Quarterback:
JaMarcus Russell was probably the worst quarterback to start a good amount of games in the entire NFL last year, maybe even in the last 10 years. Head Coach Tom Cable hates Russell with a strong passion and believes than if he weren’t forced to start Russell, by owner Al Davis, he would have won at least 8 games last year instead of 5, and I think he has good reason to say that. Cable was brought back for another year which could signal the end for the former #1 pick Russell in town, but unfortunately this isn’t a great quarterback class, so they could have a tough time finding a replacement that way. Expect Al Davis to target Michael Vick in free agency or possibly try to take Jevan Snead in the 3rd round to fit his complex style offense, throw the ball far down field to fast guys and hope they catch it.
Signed Kyle Boller, Traded for Jason Campbell
Offensive Tackle:
Not giving him any excuses, but Russell’s line didn’t do him any favors, though you could also argue that Russell’s awful pocket presence made the line look worse than they actually were. Nonetheless, after the quarterback position, the #1 position Al Davis has screwed over in the last ten years in the offensive line, especially left tackle. Mario Henderson cannot start another year at left tackle so expect Davis to target a big athletic left tackle in the early rounds of the NFL Draft.
Drafted Jared Veldheer (#69), Drafted Bruce Campbell (#106)
Defensive End:
They only managed 37 sacks last year and no one had more than 7. Trevor Scott, their leader in sacks, isn’t really even an every down end at 255 pounds anyway. They need to solidify the outside of their defensive line and for that reason, they could target a guy like Carlos Dunlap, a freak athlete, early in the draft. And by they, I mean their half dead owner.
Traded for Kamerion Wimbley, Traded for Quentin Groves
Outside Linebacker:
All of their outside linebackers are free agents this offseason so they could overhaul the position if they choose to, which might not be a bad idea because they aren’t getting a lot of production from the position right now, though they do have bigger needs. If Al Davis sees Taylor Mays as a linebacker rather than a safety, there is no doubt in my mind that Davis will take Mays, the most athletic player in the draft class, at #8.
Defensive Tackle:
Richard Seymour had a really down year this year in Oakland and I don’t blame him. That places sucks the life out of players. Just ask Randy Moss. There’s a good chance he isn’t back which will mean that the Raiders will be even worse against the run next year and still be without a 1st rounder in 2011. Great trade.
Drafted LaMarr Houston (#44), Signed John Henderson
Safety:
Despite spending two picks in the first two rounds in recent years on Michael Huff and Michael Mitchell, they still need help at the position. The position doesn’t have a ton of positional value, but Al Davis is too busy being dead to know what that means so he could target Taylor Mays at 8.
Drafted Stevie Brown (#251)
Offensive Guard:
Al Davis didn’t just screw over the tackle position, they have little to nothing at the guard position either. Darren McFadden has talent, but if they keep allowing guys into the backfield, he isn’t going to get far.
Free agents:
QB Bruce Gradkowski (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.7 million
QB Charlie Frye (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.2 million
RB Justin Fargas
FB Gary Russell (exclusive rights)
FB Luke Lawton (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.2 million
WR Todd Watkins (restricted)
WR Javon Walker (he’s still alive?)
OT Khalif Barnes (restricted)- resigned 1 year
OT Cornell Green- signed with Bills 3 years 9 million
C Chris Morris (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.1 million
DE Greg Ellis
DE Richard Seymour- resigned 1 year 12.3 million
DT Gerard Warren- signed with Patriots
DT William Joseph- resigned
OLB Sam Williams- resigned
OLB Thomas Howard (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.7 million
OLB Ricky Brown (restricted)- resigned
OLB Jon Alston (restricted)- signed with Buccaneers 1 year
OLB Isiah Ekejiuba- signed with Lions
MLB Kirk Morrison (restricted)- resigned 1 year 2.5 million
CB Stanford Routt (restricted)- resigned 1 year 3.2 million
S Hiram Eugene (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.7 million
K Sebastian Janikowski- resigned 4 yrs 16 mil
Offseason moves:
Raiders waive MLB Isiah Ekejiuba
Raiders re-sign DE Richard Seymour
Raiders sign NT John Henderson
Raiders cut QB JaMarcus Russell
Raiders sign RB Michael Bennett
Raiders re-sign CB Stanford Routt
Raiders waive FB Oren O’Neal
Raiders sign RB Rock Cartwright
Raiders trade MLB Kirk Morrison and a 5th-round pick to Jaguars for 4th-round pick
Raiders acquire QB Jason Campbell from Redskins for 2012 4th-round pick
Raiders acquire DE Quentin Groves from Jaguars for a 5th-round pick
Raiders re-sign OLB Thomas Howard
Raiders sign QB Kyle Boller
Raiders re-sign MLB Kirk Morrison
Raiders re-sign OLB Sam Williams
Raiders re-sign S Hiram Eugene
Raiders re-sign FB Luke Lawton
Raiders re-sign OLB Ricky Brown
Raiders re-sign DT William Joseph
Raiders re-sign C Chris Morris
Raiders re-sign QB Bruce Gradkowski
Raiders re-sign QB Charlie Frye
Raiders acquire DE Kamerion Wimbley from Browns for 2010 3rd-rounder
Raiders cut DT Gerard Warren
Raiders cut WR Javon Walker
Raiders cut DE Greg Ellis
Raiders cut RB Justin Fargas
Raiders re-sign OT Khalif Barnes
Raiders tender FB Luke Lawton
Raiders tender QB Bruce Gradkowski
Raiders tender OLB Thomas Howard
Raiders tender OLB Ricky Brown
Raiders tender MLB Kirk Morrison
Raiders tender S Hiram Eugene
Raiders tender CB Stanford Routt
Raiders tender C Chris Morris
Raiders franchise DE Richard Seymour
Raiders re-sign K Sebastian Janikowski
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