**Oakland Raiders 2010 offseason Thread**

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Meta4iCAL

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
#761
Feb 21, 2005
19,635
4,278
113
38
#761
Russell stealing Cable’s line

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 3:02 pm in Oakland Raiders.

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell must have been watching closely to see how Tom Cable managed to remain coach of the Raiders.

As rumors swirled about Cable’s impending demise in the wake of a 5-11 season during which the Raiders never won back-to-back games, punctuated by bad publicity arising from the Randy Hanson and alleged domestic violence issues, the coach stuck to a simple philosophy.

Cable had no idea if he was going to get another year. Given the Raiders history, he surely had his doubts. So he showed up to work and kept showing up until told otherwise. The bad news never came.

Fast forward to Thursday.

“My thing is to keep coming out to work until they tell me not to,” Russell said. “I’m going to keep coming out to compete for the job and work my tail off.”

Russell had at least three other variations on the same theme. Questions regarding his weight and contract status were cut off by Eddie Anderson, the former Raiders safety whose job it is to watch over a nearly $40 million investment which hasn’t paid dividends.

Nobody would say what Russell weighed, but it sure didn’t look like he weighed 300 pounds, and to me at least, he looked better than he did at any time last season. There was a dramatic difference in the way Russell threw the ball compared to last year’s mandatory minicamp, when even the most simple passes were taking nose-dives into the ground.

That’s not to say Russell was great or approaching great. He was OK in a non-contact practice. He wasn’t awful, and given the way last season went, that’s a significant upgrade.

The Russell storyline will continue to play itself out and be determined in large measure by economics.

Russell did say there hadn’t been any talk of re-working his deal before Anderson stepped in. Remaining with the Raiders rests with Russell’s willingness to take something far less than the $9.45 million.

Cable wasn’t getting into specifics.

“I think first of all, I think he’s handling all that’s going on very well,” Cable said. “That’s to his credit. I think it shows some maturity on his part. He’s dealing with it and he went out and worked, just like everybody else did.”

Said Russell about his future: It’s a business. I don’t really have anything to do with that. That’s a higher level than me. I just keep coming to compete every day.”
 
Meta4iCAL

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
#762
Feb 21, 2005
19,635
4,278
113
38
#762
Raiders minicamp news, notes

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 3:53 pm in Oakland Raiders.

News, notes and quotes from the first day of the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp Friday:

– Coach Tom Cable acknowledged things went much smoother than they did a year ago, when the first minicamp practice was punctuated by fumbled snapped, dropped passes, and disorganization.

“We had two weeks before we did that minicamp, there was kind of a lull in there and that was a reason for doing it right after the draft,’’ Cable said. “I think it’s reflected in that the ball’s not on the round and we don’t look like the Keystone Cops out there.’’

– Whose who didn’t practice included quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, whose left arm is in a sling after pectoral surgery, wide receiver Chaz Schilens, dealing with general soreness, and wide receiver/return specialist Nick Miller, who has shin splints.

Miller was troubled by shin splints last year, only to later have it called a broken fibula. He spent 16 weeks inactive on game day while still on the 53-man roster.

Linebacker Ricky Brown is expected to practice once a day as he recovers from ankle surgery.

– Cable said he hoped Richard Seymour’s contract would be finalized this weekend.

“We’re trying to get it done so he’s all ours,’’ Cable said.

– Fullback Oren O’Neal, who never recovered from a serious knee injury in 2008, was waived.

– It was a mixed bag for quarterback Jason Campbell, getting accustomed to his yearly task of learning a new offense.

“I’ve been through about 10 of them, so somewhere along the like I’ve run a lot of these plays, trying to find the rhythm, get used to the guys around me and get back into the groove,’’ Campbell said.

Campbell, under the watchful eye of Willie Brown during his press session much the way Eddie Anderson monitored JaMarcus Russell, backed well off his NFL Network declaration that he considered himself the starting quarterback.

“I’m just here to work. Just here to work, get better every day,’’ Campbell said. “ I’ll let coach Cable make that decision and Mr. Al Davis. My job is to come out here every day and compete, keep working on things and try to improve the offense.’’

When Charles Woodson was a rookie, the Raiders went through the charade of listing him behind James Trapp until well into training camp.

With middle linebacker Rolando McClain, there was no such pretense.

“The day after they drafted me, I called to ask for a playbook and some DVDs to look over,’’ McClain said. “I didn’t waste any time.’’

McClain was flanked by Kamerion Wimbley on the strong side and Trevor Scott on the weak side as the defense played almost exclusively 4-3 for the first practice.

– The first minicamp practice contained little or none of the potentially exotic looks hinted at by Cable at the post-draft press briefing. No surprise, really.

“I was looking at the playbook and there are some things that we didn’t do last year.,’’ Asomugha said. “Like always, it’s a matter of how well we do it at this time of the year and then in the summer as to whether we actually play it. So it’s going to depend on us and then how comfortable the coaches feel.’’

– No longer serving as play-caller and offensive coordinator, Cable found himself with more information than usual following the first practice.

“I had a lot more notes from practice on a broad area of things, from what I saw on special teams and with the DBs, to something with the linebackers,’’ Cable said. “I kind of walked off the field feeling really good about what I saw and was anxious to look at it on film and crosscheck myself.’’

Cable on the quarterback rotation of Charlie Frye, JaMarcus Russell, Jason Campbell and Kyle Boller: “It means nothing. Don’t look anything into that. If you do, you’re wasting ink.’’

Or blog space.

– Fourth-round draft pick Bruce Campbell, who played exclusively on the left side at Maryland, lined up as the right guard with the second team. Cable said putting him at guard will give him more second-team reps.

Third-round pick Jared Veldheer was the second-team left tackle behind Mario Henderson.

“My first time looking at the playbook, I looked at it and the different language and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Now that I actually got a practice under my belt, I was like, OK, it’s not that bad,’’ Campbell said. “It’s just getting used to the game speed and basically staying low on the inside.’’

Campbell had false starts on consecutive plays during one sequence and was in some battles with defensive tackle Chris Cooper that probably went beyond the scope of a “non-contact’’ practice.

– Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, No. 85, looked much smoother catching the ball in drills and in team sessions. He did have two drops, although neither was a particularly easy catch, one over his head and the other at his feet.

– The following undrafted free agents were announced as signed: DE Alex Daniels, DT Kellen Heard, RB Chane Moline, TE John Owens, G Alex Parsons, DB Joey Thomas and RB Manase Tonga.

– Cornerback Stanford Routt signed his first- and third-round tender and practiced with the team.

Check for practice updates on my Twitter account.
 
Meta4iCAL

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
#763
Feb 21, 2005
19,635
4,278
113
38
#763
First day in the books

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 6:18 pm in Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders concluded their second minicamp sessions Monday with minimal media intrustion, with most everyone bailing out ofter updating the JaMarcus Russell situation.

Defensive end Trevor Scott was not at practice, his place taken by Quentin Groves.

All media availability takes place before practice.

Practice highlights included a lot of snaps by quarterback Jason Campbell, some good, some not so good.

A couple of first impressions:

– Campbell throws some truly awful looking passes that still find their target,and find it with good timing.

– For a quarterback who is not supposed to be mobile, Campbell gets outside on a rollout pretty quickly.

– Defensive tackle Lemarr Houston and cornerback Walter McFadden, both rookie draft picks, had their NFL welcomes in the afternoon session.

Houston didn’t know he was supposed to be on the field, raced to left end, then had both his helmet and jersey ripped off in a neat move by right tackle Langston Walker.

McFadden found himself victimized in coverage often by a number of different receivers.

Those and other practice observations can be found on my Twitter page.
 
beNz_NorCal

beNz_NorCal

Sicc OG
#765
Jul 29, 2002
1,566
114
0
#765
radiostationrep said:
Russell looked good in the video i seen of today's workout. I am not talking just physically either. He looked crisp and was moving real well. Better than I have ever seen him that is for sure. He is closer to 250 than 300, that is for sure. Don't write the kid off yet!
Click to expand...





dont let that motherfucker fool you..........this guy just doesnt have it........it might look nice when he's doing it in no contact practice but we all know how he shows up in a game.....dude is garbage bottom line......
 
J

Jack Tracks

Sicc OG
#769
Jan 6, 2004
4,656
44
0
38
www.myspace.com
#769
i cringe when i hear jamarcus talk. God damn that guy is such a joke. I really wanted him to succeed but now he can go fuck himself. His lack of effort is not what this team. I dont give a fuck if he put in work this off season what hes done up to this point is pathetic. He doesnt deserve a chance with this team.
 
Meta4iCAL

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
#772
Feb 21, 2005
19,635
4,278
113
38
#772
mExIcaNox4 said:
No mention of Bush or DMC
Click to expand...
Jerry McDonald said...

– Have been asked a time or three about the running backs, Darren McFadden and Michael Bush in particular.

The reason I don’t pay a lot of attention to the running backs is that non-contact practices are set up for their success.

So, yes, McFadden looks terrific. He accelerates quickly, pulls away from defenders and is dangerous in the passing game. Like he always is in these sessions.

Bush looks big and swift, a load to bring down if that was the goal.

For that matter, both Rock Cartwright and Michael Bennett, the latter in on a tryout basis, looked explosive and productive.
Click to expand...
 
beNz_NorCal

beNz_NorCal

Sicc OG
#773
Jul 29, 2002
1,566
114
0
#773
Raiders notebook: Impressive start for linebacker Rolando McClain
By Steve Corkran


[email protected]

Posted: 05/01/2010 07:59:07 PM PDT
Updated: 05/02/2010 04:43:52 AM PDT



The Raiders made it obvious how much they think of middle linebacker Rolando McClain by selecting him in the first round of the NFL draft last month and trading long-time starting middle linebacker Kirk Morrison two days later.

Watching McClain through four practices the past two days validated their belief that the University of Alabama standout is every bit as good as advertised.

"The thing I mentioned yesterday, and it showed up again today, the ability to just jump right in and take control is obvious," coach Tom Cable said Saturday.

McClain, 6-foot-3 and 254 pounds, was all but handed the starting job before he even donned a Raiders jersey for the first time.

He called it "an honor" but added that he is accustomed to succeeding right away. He started as a sophomore in high school and as freshman at Alabama.

"I just got to take it for what it is," McClain said. "The job is not going to be given to me. I know I have to work for it. I'm prepared for that. All I can do is step in and try do what I did at the University of Alabama, and that's be a leader."

McClain is accustomed to pressure, having played for an Alabama team that won the national championship last season. So, being the No. 8 pick and projected as a starter doesn't weigh on him one bit.

"Obviously they expect a lot; they put me in with the starters right away," McClain said of his coaches. "So, all I can do is my job. They know I'm young. I'm going to make some mistakes, but I'm a perfectionist. So, I expect to be perfect. I know I'm not, but I'm going to fight to be perfect every day."

McClain is big enough to be mistaken for a guard, Cable said. Outside linebacker Thomas Howard said he was amazed by McClain's size and leadership skills.

"Man, he's bigger than I thought he was," Howard said. "He works hard, he's a smart player and he jumped right in. He was able to control the defense."


Fourth-round draft pick Bruce Campbell has been moved from offensive tackle to guard.

The move was done to expose Campbell to a new position in case he is called upon in an emergency situation and get him more playing time right away, Cable said.

"We need to expose him to playing in there," Cable said. "We have some good numbers (at offensive tackle) now, so getting this thing started a little bit, it was important to put him in there where I knew he'd get a bunch of reps in camp."

The change marks Campbell's first foray on the right side of the offensive line, as well as playing guard.

"Yes I do feel comfortable," Campbell said. "It's not that bad at all."

Campbell said he enjoys the benefit of having help on either side of him as opposed to being isolated at the end of the line. Even so, he realizes that he needs to adjust his style of play, at least in the short term.

"I actually am going to start running a lot more than I did at the tackle position anyway," Campbell said. "I like to run."


Wide receiver Chaz Schilens missed practice for the second straight day. Cable said that Schilens had a follow-up procedure to the surgery he had on his broken left foot in August.

Cable said the Raiders are just taking the cautious approach with Schilens because "we're going to need that guy."


Outside linebacker Trevor Scott (trapezius), receiver Louis Murphy (ankle) and cornerback Chris Johnson (back) missed practice. None of their injuries is considered serious, Cable said.


The Raiders open training camp in Napa on July 28. Cable said he intends to speak with 49ers coach Mike Singletary in the next week or two about the prospect of conducting joint practices in Napa for a third straight season. The Raiders and 49ers play exhibition and regular-season games this year, so there's some concern as to whether there's a need for added time around each other.
 
Meta4iCAL

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
#774
Feb 21, 2005
19,635
4,278
113
38
#774
Quick hits from last minicamp practice

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 2:31 pm in Oakland Raiders.

Impressions gathered from five practice sessions at the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp, which concluded with a single practice Sunday:

– Coach Tom Cable, a roll-up-your-sleeves and do-it-yourself type, has taken a step back.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is running the offense, John Marshall the defense. Line coach Jim Michalczik, who became a spectator at times last year as Cable jumped in as the unit struggled, was the man voice in that unit.

Particularly telling Sunday was Jackson coming in and working with offensive linemen while Cable was off watching Mike Waufle work with the defensive line.

– Rolando McClain knows his stuff.

McClain played in a 3-4 defense at Alabama, but his transition to 4-3 middle linebacker was seamless in terms of knowing his assignments. He jumped right in with the first team and was seldom seen getting heavy tutoring from coaches in between snaps to correct errors.

The most important quality will be fitting run gaps and driving ballcarriers backward, and we won’t know about that until July, but it was a promising start.

McClain sat out Sunday’s practice after being tight following four hard practice sessions where he took a lot of snaps.

– Admittedly, some of the issues had to do with Chaz Schilens and Louis Murphy missing practice, but Oakland’s wide receivers littered the ground with too many dropped passes.

About the only guy getting a passing grade Sunday was Todd Watkins and perhaps Jonathan Holland.

As for Darrius Heyward-Bey, he has indeed improved, but he fell far short of Cable’s glowing assessment at a pre-draft press conference.

Take a look at film of Murphy and Heyward-Bey side-by-side breaking on a deep ball and only one of them would look like a potential star. It would be the guy taken in the fourth round, not the first.

– Jason Campbell is not a statue. Far from it.

I apparently didn’t pay a lot of attention to Redskins game because I thought Campbell a classic dropback pocket passer. He can do that, but he also runs well.

Sunday, he broke to his right and beat end Jay Richardson to the corner for a nice gain.

– Rookie tackle Jared Veldheer looks thin for a lineman at 6-foot-8 and 315 pounds but was strong enough to send fellow O-lineman Alex Parsons flying during a routine drill.

– JaMarcus Russell still hasn’t mastered the art of the short pass, hitting Darren McFadden with a swing pass to his right on one play, then firing the next at the feet of Rock Cartwright.

Russell, whose best practice session was his first one, got a limited amount of snaps in each of the last two practices.

He may not be 290 pounds, but he didn’t look anything like a $9.45 million quarterback, either.

– Rookie defensive backs Jeremy Ware, Walter McFadden and Stevie Brown all had good final practice sessions. Brown properly broke on a pass from Russell intended for Zach Miller and ended up with an interception on the overthrow.

Ware had the prettiest interception of the minicamp when he stayed with Jacoby Ford on a post then out-raced him to a deep pass by Charlie Frye.

– Eddie Anderson has roles that go beyond being watch commander in charge of Russell. During one sequence Sunday, Marshall had some words with Stanford Routt along the sideline, and when Routt ran back out on the field with the first unit, he was sent off by defensive backs coach Lionel Washington.

Eventually, Anderson came over and the two had a discussion. Routt was back on the field a short time later.

– Lamarr Houston, the second-round pick out of Texas who will be in the defensive line rotation at end, will get in his share of scrapes this year. When teams hit the Raiders for a big run and he’s on the field, he’s going to hit back.

He’s one of those “play to the whistle’’ types _ which means once in awhile he’ll play beyond it.

– Cable said Schilens’ absence is not a big deal, and we’ll take him at his word.

But the Raiders’ best possession receiver has had two surgeries on his left foot in the past year. Not everyone has feet that can hold up to playing in the NFL.

If he experiences any setbacks which constitute missing more than a practice or two at training camp, be worried.

– While it makes for a nice story to say Richard Seymour was not at mandatory minicamp because the two sides were working on a longterm deal, one has nothing to do with the other.

Seymour could have signed the tender, been at camp and the two sides still could be working on that contract. He is doing what a lot of people would do in his position _ staying at home with his family rather than go through five football practices as April turns to May.

– Not sure who the Raiders fullback is going to be in Week 1, but there’s a very real possibility that it’s not someone who is currently on the roster.

– Michael Huff and Tyvon Branch at cornerback? They were for a handful of plays on Sunday. Cable says it was simply to work on their coverage skills and that neither will be moving from safety to the island.

– The first OTA session begins May 18. In past years, the media is allowed to cover one day of sessions which last three days.

– For more practice highlights, check my Twitter page.
 
RAS 925

RAS 925

Sicc OG
#780
Jan 4, 2003
4,549
5
0
#780
this our year Raider Nation!! I kno we say this every fuckin year, but this tha one... not saying superbowl victory but we will actually compete for #1 in tha division... OAK,SD,DEN,KC... jus watch
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom