Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Al Davis had the New England Patriots. Reggie McKenzie just might have the Carolina Panthers.

When it comes to trade partners it seems like tradition that the Oakland Raiders have a go to franchise they can call on when looking to make a deal. Davis routinely dialed Bill Belichick and the Pats in recent years. During his fist offseason as Oakland’s GM McKenzie managed to trade twice with the Panthers.

On Sunday the Raiders and Panthers clash in an otherwise meaningless game of football in the grand scheme of things. However there is still plenty of drama not the least of which is the rehash of the two deals these two teams engaged in prior to the start of the season.

For Carolina they’ll be getting a good look at former backup running back Mike Goodson. The man made expendable by the Panthers’ stable of running backs has found a real home in Oakland and has thrived in the much discussed zone blocking scheme instituted by Greg Knapp.

Of course thriving is a relative term. It’s not like Goodson has become an elite level running back in the East Bay. But that’s not to say he hasn’t been productive. On the season Goodson has seen just 30 carries but he’s churned out 200 yards on the ground good for just under 7 yards a carry. That’s a staggering number considering how much Darren McFadden has struggled in the controversial scheme (just 3.4 yards per touch).

Last week was Goodson’s best showing as a Raider. In what has become the lone feather in Knapp’s cap this season, the Raiders running game finally flexed its muscle against the Kansas City Chiefs with Goodson falling just 11 yards shy of joining Run DMC in the 100-yard club that afternoon.

That almost half of Goodson’s carries on the season came in one game perhaps reflects something yours truly said months ago…this dude needs more touches. Not only has Goodson shown himself as a threat playing behind McFadden but he’s also a real weapon on screen passes and has even returned kicks with some success this year as well.

As for the Raiders, they’ll be reunited with Louis Murphy. It wasn’t all that long ago that Murphy was looking like a real gem of a 4^th round draft pick. In his first two years as a Raider Murphy led all Silver and Black wide receivers in receptions and yards. Things were really looking up for Murphy despite his inconsistent and at times volatile nature. Then in his third season injury struck and a new crop of young receivers came into the East Bay robbing Murphy of reps by the time he was healthy.

The final nail in Murphy’s Silver and Black coffin came when McKenzie arrived with another set of young receivers in tow. Both Juron Criner and Rod Streater showed themselves to be plenty promising making Murphy expendable. Soon he would be shipped off to Carolina where his production has been limited despite playing in a wide open offense.

On the season Murphy has just 21 receptions, only six more than he had all of last year in his final injury shortened season in Oakland. However he has found the end zone once and has been much more productive in the last month of the season.

Of course there is one more man making a reunion as well having moved from Oakland to Charlotte. That man is the much forgotten Bruce Campbell. Once touted as the ideal Al Davis prospect, the athletic Campbell never settled in Oakland and isn’t having much better luck in Carolina.

So was all this dealing between the Panthers and Raiders the start of a new tradition? Only time will tell. Unlike the Pats-Raiders transactions none of these deals produced a mega-talent for the other team such as a Randy Moss or Richard Seymour. However both teams have benefited and for all we know the draft pick acquired in the Murphy deal could be used to find the next great Raider.

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

If you want a snapshot of the short-lived Louis Murphy era in Oakland look no further than his first game as a Raider. He scored twice yet only one of those TD grabs counted. It might have felt like shades of the Tuck Rule when his first NFL score was erased from the history books no thanks to a completely idiotic rule but in reality it was Louis Murphy’s Law. What can go wrong does and odds are Murphy could have somehow prevented it.

Louis Murphy has the talent. He showed that in his first NFL game.

Murphy has the drive. He proved that with a stunning and gritty performance in Pittsburgh.

Murphy’s even got the right mentality and desire. He more than displayed by bulldozing a clear path to end zone for Zach Miller once.

Problem was Murphy could never put it all together. He’d follow up a spectacular catch with an inexplicable drop. He’d take a reverse to the house then the next time on the field he’d take a trip to the showers after getting hit with a personal foul penalty. One minute he’s running around the defense like they’re playing in concrete cleats. The next he’s running into his own teammate effectively committing pass interference against the offense.

Such is the nature of Louis Murphy’s Law. That he went from being the team’s leading receiver to a pre-camp castoff can’t come as much of a surprise. Not if you’ve been paying attention to your recent Raiders history concerning wide receivers.

In recent years it hasn’t ended well for the leading pass catcher at wide receiver in Oakland. Randy Moss, Ronald Curry and Johnnie Lee Higgins all were either gone or saw their roles significantly reduced one year after being the team’s top receiver. Same now for Murphy. Darrius Heyward-Bey, you’ve been warned.

Of course Murphy’s Oakland exit wasn’t all about his decline in production. Injuries played as large a role as his inconsistencies. The emergence of Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore didn’t help either. Neither did the arrivals of Juron Criner and Rod Streater.

All of that added up to Murphy going from being a fourth round steal to having seventh round trade value.

Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

The odds of the Raiders getting as much production out of a future seventh round draft pick as they did out of Louis Murphy are long. So you can pretty read between the lines to see that Reggie McKenzie’s latest move was all about creating more cap space.

The Raiders received a conditional seventh-round pick in exchange for Murphy. That lone condition is that Murphy must make Carolina’s roster coming out of camp, something that was far from guaranteed had he remained in Oakland. So McKenzie did well to get anything now instead of nothing later had the team simply cut Murphy from the 53-man.

If all goes according to plan the Raiders will have another pick in the seventh round come 2013 where they’ll hopefully unearth another Chaz Schilens but in all likelihood will settle for another Jeremy Ware.

But what the Raiders ultimately gained via the Murphy deal means next to nothing. What the Raiders lost – Murphy’s $1.26-million salary for 2012 – goes much further in the here and now.

McKenzie can’t toss Murphy’s rookie deal into his out-of-whack contract pile. This trade was a case of simple math. Why pay one wide receiver to be a 4^th option when you can get two rookies for the cost of one Murphy? Juron Criner and Rod Streater did enough during OTAs to convince McKenzie that his team would be just fine minus Murphy.

Now the only hope is that one of the inexperienced Raider receivers will be ready if and when their number is called. Murphy might have been on his way down the depth chart but at least you knew he was ready to roll when called upon.

Such is the nature of the business of football. Some moves are made with the team in mind. Others are made with the checkbook as the priority. This trade had elements of both as the team can move forward grooming new talent while also gaining a little more breathing room under the cap.