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Saturday Hot Seat
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Raiders draw MNF opener and Thanksgiving
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Updating draft options
- Status report on offense
- Defensive checkup
- Buying team concept
- No-names key to victory
Thanks once again for another week of enlightning comments. I have been working hard to bring you the news and analysis on what is going on with the Oakland Raiders. Tonight, its my turn to be on the hot seat, as I will respond to your questions and comments from throughout the week.
3-21 Saturday Hot Seat
S1lverbonez said:
how come nobody is talking about tory holt as a short term fix at wr. give him a 3yr 24 million 18 million guar.it is a lot cheaper then crabtree. we trade disgruntled and often injured burgess and hard running fargas for a third. now what we get is orakpo at 7. trade our 2nd pick and a 3rd to move back in the 1st round and get a hitter like ray from usc. put morrison outside and the FIRM doesnt look weak at weakside lb. finally with our third we still have, we ahoot for brace or trade for shaun rogers. 4th, 6th and 7th pick a center,safety, and another lb. let the young guys play with these additions and i see no worse then 8-8 which is very realistic. go silver and black attack. build the defense.
First off, the question with Holt is how much he has left in his tank. With the Raiders going young at receiver with Chaz Schilens, Johnnie Lee Higgins, and the unknown in Arman Shields, as well as the veteran presence of Javon Walker whose restructure calls for him to have guaranteed salary for 09 & 10 make the Holt move unlikely. If Holt is to be brought in, it would have to be much closer to the veteran minimum.
Your suggestion of trading the tandem of Justin Fargas who is one of the locker room leaders and Derrick Burgess for a third makes no sense. Burgess is on a contract year, so expect big numbers from him for this season, so he can get is payday. That combination would be too much to give up for a third round pick, and that combination would have salary cap ramifications that make it unlikely. Without an upgrade at defensive tackle, no matter who is at middle linebacker they will not look good. Not to mention, Thomas Howard is the weakside linebacker and it is strong side where the question marks are. It would likely take more than a third to move from low second back into the first as well.
3-23 Shuffling the offensive line
Nick said:
There is a lot going on with the dolphins. The raiders seem to do business disclosed. I see something developing here or we lost a star safety, center, and a draft pick for this guy!
The Raiders cut Gibril Wilson and let Jake grove walk as a free agent, so they have no bearing on the acquisition of Samson Satele. There is no way that Jake Grove is worth the contract he got in Miami. Besides, Satele is more mobile and should be a better fit with the zone blocking scheme.
Raiderlegend1 said:
My question to you ol chap, is how do you know Al Davis is as down on Maclin as you are?? Not once have you put something worthwhile about Maclin. If you dont like the kid come out and just say that. Realistically Maclin is the next BEST CHOICE at WR for the Oakland Raiders. Like your writing, but dont like when you knock someone down with bias. Maclin already sounds like an Oakland Raider.
I don't know for sure that Davis is down on Maclin. However, he does not fit the mold of the bigger receivers that the Raiders have favored. Maclin's stock was hurt at the combine when he measured shorter than expected, and ran a slower 40 than he was predicting. I don't have anything against the kid personally, I just don't feel that he is worth a top ten pick. If Al Davis disagrees, Maclin will be a Raider on April 24th.
3-25 Status report on the offense
Tyler said:
I think the reciever core is underestimated big time! Maybe add one verteran for depth, the roster limit is 53 not 63. Chaz is good enough to start all year. And Javon and JLH can compete for the other spot. This is the least of needs as far as im concerned. Go oline or/and defense in the draft. We want to win a championship not sell out a stadium! DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE!!!
Agreed. The lines are the biggest weaknesses, although the Raiders have been making moves along the offensive line.
3-26 Defensive check up
Corsair said:
If the Raiders are commited to their youth movement their draft should resemble the following:
1. Trade for Lions 20th or Eagles 21st and 2nd round pick. Draft Malcolm Jenkins as safety and corner depth.
2. 2nd round: Ron Brace and Mack, Unger, or Shipley
3. 3rd round: WR Orton, Iglesias, or Robiskie
4. 4th round: SSLB Marcus Freeman
5. 6th round: WR Mitchell or Edison
6. 7th round: DT Nader Abdullah
Only real problem is that the Raiders no longer have a sixth, as they gave that pick up for Samson Satele. Also, the Raiders should be able to get both of the Eagles' first round picks according to the value chart.
3-27 Buying team concept
Nick said:
William Beatty could be a steal at left tackle in the second round. Really athletic zone blocker from a small football school. Great run blocker at the outside. Moved way up after a great combine. He is projected to be in the top 10 of the second round now.
Sounds like a promising pick, if the Raiders go in that direction. Will have to research him some more in case he is selected.
Chris said:
Pat, I've been reading your comments for a while now. You're very insightful and knowledgeable concerning the Raiders. And you live in San Francisco? One name you touched on was Oneal. He'll be the key to the Raider's success in the running game this year. Lawton was a fill in after Griffith went down. If Oneal can come back 100% from his knee injury, the Raiders will have a potent running attack. I'm surprised the Raiders haven't at least inquired about Lorenzo Neal. He's an UFA and has been a battering ram his entire career. He'd be excellent insurance for the team if Oneal can't make it back. In my estimation, Lawton isn't powerful enough to be a lead blocker.
No, I don't live in San Francisco. I am in Northern Cali, but not SF proper. Thanks for the compliments on my work.
I agree that a healthy O'Neal will be important to the Raiders running game in 09. I don't expect that they will make a move for Lorenzo Neal, as he does not have much left on the clock. I don't expect the Raiders to keep two fullbacks on their roster in 09 as they did in 08. Look for either Marcel Reece to make some noise in camp as a H-back fullback/tight end hybrid.
Comments
Sticking with full backs, I'm still wondering why they cut Justin Griffith? They always praised him and besides last years injury he's always stay realativly healthy.
Draft: I have to think we should pass on a first round WR even if Crabtree is there. I would be nice to finially draft tallent at DT or OT however with the reason FA signings and the trade I would hope they focus very hard on defense. Cutting Wilson was a huge loss, Miami is getting a great safety. What do you think Al is going to do in the first and second round assuming no trades are made.
What he should do is to get the best OT w/ 1st pick and get Mack or Unger w/ 2nd .
What he will do is get Crabtree if he is still there. Which I think is a mistake. I think just like you that WR is not our biggest issue, plus if we really want to evaluate our young WR talent then we need to see what they can do. A more pressing need is to evaluate Russel at QB. He needs protection and if he can demonstrate the ability to make the right decisions by getting rid of the ball when he has to and making the correct reads on the defense then we know that he is our franchise QB. For now though we need to give him all the help we can on the O'line. I don't care if we draft A. Smith he would still be better than what we have on our roster. He then will get a safety with the second pick.
I like the idea of working with the line but with so many signings of the o-line what do you personally see us doing especially now that Andre Smith may have hurt his stock to a third and second round pick what do you see us doing
I'm not sure about the people here saying we need to draft o-line with our 1st two picks, or a receiver. Does anyone relize our run d is actually weaker (with the departure of Wilson) now then it was last year when we were 31st.
We've done a little work on the o-line and we can get receivers in the latter rounds. If we don't address our d we're screwed. It's not like we are going to blow up and start scoring 45pts a game. We need to d up if we want a shot at the playoffs. Getting run on at will breaks a team, tires the d, forces the o to be one dimensional. We need to draft d early and often, or start looking in free agency cause our current personel is not gonna cut it.
Offensive line is not the Raiders' biggest need. Defensive tackle is. The Raiders have ranked no higher than 22nd against the run in the last six years and have finished 31st the last two. Meanwhile, with no big-name players other than Gallery (who was a big name for the wrong reasons), the offensive line has improved both years under Cable. Let's see how it improves with Pears, Satele, and Barnes and possibly a late round draft pick before we invest a top ten pick. Especially considering Monroe and J. Smith will be gone at #7. If Raji is there, he is the pick. If not and Aaron Curry is, then it's Curry and then Ron Brace in the second round.
What will probably happen is the raiders will draft Crabtree in the First. AL doesn't pass on talent and that's a fact. Second round will either be Ron Brace, William Beatty, or Mack if he's there. We need talent on both lines and Cable will help Al make the right choice. 3rd round will most likely be safety Chip Vaughn who is coming to visit. He was a tackling machine and lead wake forest in tackles. At 6'1 221 he held down the run and was in charge of the defense on the field. There defense strictly depended on good safeties. Everyone Knows that Al craves great defensive backs and he needs to replace Wilson who is very similar to Vaughn. Forth round is hard to predict, because of recent swap. The fourth round might be a linebacker, because that is the round where Al has success finding linebackers.
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