I think you’ve got the right idea, but when I wrote this, Barry Sims was still our left tackle.  Sims did a great job last season.  I stated two days later that I didn’t understand the financial reasoning for cutting Sims, but today view it as a move for youth.  I’d love for the Raiders to put Long beside Gallery, but even after the cutting of Sims I feel like he won’t be around when the Raiders pick . I think Chris Long will be there, and like the craziness of every free-agency, your needs suddenly change.  Derrick Burgess is on the free-agent market and Chris Clemons just got signed by the Eagles.  We suddenly are in desperate need of pass rushers.  Things are changing so much that my articles 2 or 3 days old don’t reference the present status of Raiders, so I’ll posting similar to this article soon, but this is just where i thought the Raiders stood at the Combine. 

Hey, I also think we should have gone after Stroud, but I can’t doubt the Kelly move completely, until at least a year from now.  But like I wrote, I would’ve liked them to have given him a 1-year deal, and go from there. 

First of all, if you could actually interpret the words I wrote, you would realized that I think Mendenhall’s post-season workouts have made him unlikely to fall to the Raiders, but more that he would be the best running back for the Raiders system. Furthermore, I go on to mention how the value and likelihood of Felix Jones being the Raiders 2nd round pick could be more beneficial to their run game (i.e. Jones’ experience sharing the carries at Arkansas, as he would be expected to do in Oakland with Justin Fargas).

As for DeSean Jackosn, as I wrote, I do not doubt he’ll be gone in the first two rounds, but that I believe he’s undeserving of a first day selection. His size and selfishness should keep him out of those first 3 rounds, but his speed will probably attract some team to draft him on Day 1. A part of me hopes that the guy that I use to admire gets humbled by a late round selection, and vows to improve his efforts in the weight room, on the practice field, and basically everywhere I’ve HEARD he slacks off in.

This is an assessment of Raider needs, and not some piece on DeSean Jackson. If you want to know why I speak of him this way then do what I wrote at the end of the Jackson paragraph; read his profile in my draft guide that I’ll be posting soon, and you can see what some of his former teammates have told me.

Joe, ‘we are all more stupid for haven read your comment, I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul’.  

-Billy Madison