Archive for April, 2011

To complete their 2011 draft class the Oakland Raiders selected Miami tight end Richard Gordon with the 181st pick then closed up shop by picking USC wide receiver David Ausberry in the 7th round. Gordon is an athletic tight end that was primarily used as a blocker. He’ll join fellow Hurricane DeMarcus Van Dyke in the East Bay but unlike his collegiate teammate Gordon will be hard pressed to make the 53-man roster. Ausberry, a Central Valley native, never lived up to the hype at USC where he arrived as a highly sought after recruit. He’s got a large frame [...]

Until now Oakland’s draft has been all about addressing needs. While I was well aware that Denarius Moore was on Al’s draft board, I didn’t honestly think they would take him. Low and behold, with the 148th pick in the draft, the Raiders grabbed the speedy wide receiver from Tennessee. This marks the 4th receiver the Raiders have drafted in the last three years. Moore, naturally, has good speed and fits the mold of your classic deep threat. The question is just how does he fit in? Moore is very raw and will find some stiff competition just to make [...]

So far there have been no real surprises in Oakland’s approach to the 2011 draft. We knew they needed to address the needs on the offensive line and in the secondary. Five picks in and four have been used on either DBs or offensive linemen. The lone departure from these two areas of need occurred in the 4th round as the Raiders picked Eastern Washington running back Taiwan Jones with the 125th pick. There has been a lot of buzz about Jones around Raider Nation in recent weeks. Naturally he gained the attention of Al Davis by going sub 4.3 [...]

Two things you can set your watch to this time of year: 1) Al Davis picking the fastest player in the draft and 2) The Raiders trading with the Patriots. Like clockwork the Raiders used the third round to check off both of the aforementioned necessities. With the 81st pick in the draft the Raiders picked Miami cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke who just so happened to record the fastest time in the 40-yard dash at the 2011 combine. They then turned to their longtime trading partners and brokered a deal that netted Oakland an additional pick in the 3rd and [...]

The NFL Draft is officially underway. It took almost three rounds and 81 different players to be selected by various NFL teams before the process truly began. The draft doesn’t really kick into high gear until the faster player gets a phone call from the Oakland Raiders. Enter Miami cornerback DeMarcus Van Dyke. No secrets here. If you’ve got Raider speed then you’ll be wearing Silver and Black. By covering 40 yards in 4.28 seconds Van Dyke all but guaranteed that he’d be cashing checks endorsed by Al Davis. Just so we could all sleep soundly tonight, the Raiders grabbed [...]

Al Davis always gets his man. This is unless that man is Colin Kaepernick and the 40-Whiners jump in front of the Raiders to nab the Nevada thrower. But that is neither here nor there. What is here and now is that Stefen Wisniewski will be learning the pro game under the careful tutelage of his uncle as the Raiders selected the former Nittany Lion with the 48th pick in the 2011 draft. Since folks first starting mocking the draft way back when the NFL season ended most had Wisniewski on the Raider Radar. And why not? Wisniewski immediately fills [...]

Now that the league is back to business as usual (well, not really but according to Judge Nelson it should be) we can get down to some real draft day drama. Tonight’s NFL Draft could be one of the most dramatic non-sporting events for a professional sports league or it could be as boring as Bill Belichick hosting open mic night at the Ha Ha Hole. We’ll just have to wait and see. During the last week there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the Oakland Raiders potentially moving into round one. Jerry McDonald has already broken down which [...]

So, I’m no legal expert. Aside from the various run-ins I’ve had with the law over the years, the few times I was either too high or bored to change the channel when Law & Order was on or the penal codes I’ve learned from hip hop artists, I know next to nothing of the legal code. I’m just a caveman. Your modern labor laws frighten and confuse me. One thing I do know is that when a judge gives an order those that don’t follow are usually punished. Except, of course, for politicians, actors, athletes and investment bankers. Now [...]

Projected Starters: Stanford Routt, Tyvon Branch, Hiram Eugene, Chris Johnson Noticeably absent from the names listed above is, of course, Nnamdi Asomugha. The combination of a convoluted contract married with a labor stoppage has created a free agency limbo in which football’s best cover corner currently resides. Imagining a future without Asomugha Island is hard to digest. Let’s not even mention how rarely opposing QBs even look his way. One of the bigger voids left by Aso’s potential departure would be in the locker room and in the community. Few players in modern sports are truly role models. Nnamdi is [...]

Are you ready for some awkward moments on the job? There could be plenty of those in store tomorrow when NFL players show up at their place of work in wake of Judge Nelson’s decision today. Jerry McDonald quotes Raiders player rep Zach Miller in an e-mail sent to the beat writer. “I have told my guys that they are free to go back to work. Any player that chooses to should be allowed to go into the facility tomorrow.”   So there you have it. Like it or not, NFL owners, you could have some awkward situations on your [...]