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.

Boss was barely in Oakland long enough to know which stop on the BART takes you directly into the Coliseum on Sundays and he hasn’t even been in Kansas City long enough to know what a Chiefs’ tailgate is like. Yet somehow he knows he’s on the better end of the Raiders-Chiefs rivalry and said so in an interview.

“I was in Oakland for such a short period of time that it wasn’t really something where I really understood the whole Chiefs-Raiders rivalry. I just know now that I’m on the better side of the rivalry. It’s been a great transition and it’s really been a blessing in disguise to have been moved on to greener pastures.”

So…let me get this straight. Dude knew nothing of the Raiders-Chiefs rivalry before becoming a Raider? Never mind that this cat grew up playing football on the West Coast. You’d assume at some point he would have seen or a Raiders-Chiefs game in his lifetime. Never mind that he hasn’t even played a game as a Chief yet. Somehow he already knows he’s on the “better side”.

For the record, Boss is likely going to be a blocking tight end in KC and nothing more. The Raiders gave him a chance to feature prominently in an offense that typically utilized the tight end position in a multitude of ways. He had his health issues but overall didn’t contribute much more than throwing a few big blocks and coming up with a couple of nice moments on special teams.

So now the backup tight end in Kanas City wants to run his mouth.

You’ve been warned, Boss. You know Raider Nation is loyal to a fault but all bets are off when you put on those enemy colors and call out the best fans in football. I’d say we’ll see you in the fall but nothing guarantees Boss will be either healthy enough to play or that he’ll get on the field for anything other than running downs.

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

It’s almost impossible to say anything negative about Brandon Myers. As a sixth round pick out of Iowa Myers is a made man in the NFL. He arrived as a blocking tight end but has shown some receiving skills. Not the kind of skills that will make him the next Zach Miller but he’s solid enough to be in the mix for the starting gig in 2012.

2011 was by far the most productive season of his thus far three year pro career. Of Myers’ 32 career receptions 16 came last year as he started 7 contests while appearing in all 16 games.

Of course Myers is still looking for his first career touchdown in the NFL but he’s certainly had a hand in setting up a few big ones.

The most memorable moments for Myers as a Raider have occurred on special teams. As a rookie he came up with a clutch strip and fumble recovery to help the Raiders in a thrilling victory over the Bengals. Then in his second season he topped himself by blocking a punt against the Chargers that allowed Hiram Eugene to walk into the end zone as Oakland recaptured the ownership of the Chargers. Last season Myers pulled off the same feat by causing a fumble in Minnesota.

While he’s been a quality pro willing to do whatever is asked now is the time for Myers to step out of the role player model and into that of a legit starter. Odds are he’s not going to get many opportunities like this season. Thanks to Reggie McKenzie’s cap cleansing the tight end job is wide open what with Kevin Boss being shown the exit.

About the only somewhat negative comment I’ve ever had to say about Myers is that he loses focus. For whatever reason he seems to make incredible catches every year in the preseason yet seems to drop some easily catchable balls when it counts during the regular season. Maybe he’s just putting too much pressure on himself. Of course now he can’t afford to relax. Not with the chance of a lifetime staring him in the face.