Just Blog Baby » Lofa Tatupu

Raiders Have Nothing to Gain With Tully Banta-Cain

Chris Shellcroft — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:55:45 +0000

Al Davis loves a reclamation project. I can imagine the iconic owner spending his Saturdays flipping through Auto Trader looking for salvage titles on the cheap. Over the years few football minds have had the acumen of Davis when it comes to collecting castoffs and turning them into All-Pros.

While Oakland was overwhelmingly silent in free agency there were some minor waves made by the look-sees given to Jared Gaither, Lofa Tatupu and Lito Sheppard. Of the three only Sheppard made it onto the roster but that just earned him what amounted to a one-game audition.

Today there were reports of Oakland once again going after a player tossed onto the scrapheap. Former Patriots linebacker and NorCal native Tully Banta-Cain was said to be in the East Bay where he apparently passed a physical and conducted a workout.

Vittorio Tarfur reports that Banta-Cain was nowhere to be found at practice this evening. Let’s hope it stays that way.
(more…)

Raiders Lose Travis Goethel to Knee Injury

Chris Shellcroft — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:19:12 +0000

Like I said just a few days ago, the theme for this season in Oakland is good news/bad news. Today the Raiders got good news as Jason Campbell returned to practice just days after leaving the Battle of the Bay with a head injury. The bad news is that Travis Goethel could be gone for the season.

In what Hue Jackson has described as a “freak” accident Goethel suffered a torn knee ligament on Monday. What makes this injury so freakish is that it occurred without any contact. Just one of those things I suppose. Very Chaz Schilens-esque.

Goethel was expected to be a valuable and versatile contributor on defense. Many, such as myself, even thought he might unseat Quintin Groves at weak side linebacker.

While the Raiders still have other options on the roster to step in for Goethel there is still a very real possibility the team will look to acquire another linebacker on the free agent market. The names of Lofa Tatupu and Kirk Morrison have made the rounds recently. No telling what the next move will be.

For Goethel this is yet another setback for the former Arizona State Sun Devil. As a rookie he impressed enough to earn an expanded role including making his way into the starting lineup at one point. Goethel’s first NFL season was cut short no thanks to a back injury and now today’s news only furthers his frustrations.

Lofa Tatupu Visits Oakland

Chris Shellcroft — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:10:18 +0000

The Raiders are doing a lot of free agency flirting these days. Due to Oakland’s salary cap conundrum there just isn’t a lot of cash available to Al Davis. As much as Al would like to make it rain he’s just going to have to get creative with his dollars. Thus the necessity to explore gambles like Jared Gaither. While Gaither’s health concerns ultimately proved Drew Rosenhaus correct in the whole “Raiders sign Gaither” debacle that hasn’t stopped Oakland from looking into other potential rolls of the dice.

Reports are swirling today claiming that former Seahawk Lofa Tatupu is making a stop in Oakland.

Tatupu was once regarded as one of the NFL’s up and coming young defenders until injuries slowed his rapid progress. The former USC Trojan was asked to take a pay cut and refused instead asking to be released. Pete Carroll obliged and thus we find Lofa lurking on Oakland’s radar.
(more…)