THE OFFICIAL OAKLAND RAIDERS 2009 OFFSEASON THREAD
- Thread starter Meta4iCAL
- Start date
I don't know... Maclin is faster than Crabtree and more than just a receiver. Crabtree is just a receiver. Maclin could return punts, kicks, and play receiver. Maclin reminds me of Desean Jackson and you see what kind of impact he had. We'll see what happens though. Crabtree's lack of speed worries me... he may not be able to gain that "separation" that receivers need to do in the NFL.
Fitz, Andre Johnson and TO dont return punts....
if your JUST a WR but a very good one....who cares?
your right...Maclin has just about as good as a chance to become a great WR as Crabtree...going off past history of high drafted WRs we could almost say its a toss up for BOTH of them...
but you have no clout to your arguement other then combine numbers....Maclin might be faster on the track but on the football field i see Crabetree running circles around Mac...just going off of what ive seen nothing else....1st round WRs are a gamble no matter what way you put it and what theyve shown in college....
we will see tho
if your JUST a WR but a very good one....who cares?
your right...Maclin has just about as good as a chance to become a great WR as Crabtree...going off past history of high drafted WRs we could almost say its a toss up for BOTH of them...
but you have no clout to your arguement other then combine numbers....Maclin might be faster on the track but on the football field i see Crabetree running circles around Mac...just going off of what ive seen nothing else....1st round WRs are a gamble no matter what way you put it and what theyve shown in college....
we will see tho
Raiders are AFC West contenders _ really
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 1:07 pm in Oakland Raiders.
What better day to proclaim the Raiders contenders to claim their first division title since 2002 than April Fool’s Day?
Except it’s no joke.
Look around the division. Dysfunction junction has moved to Colorado, the Chargers are acting as if if they were a 12-4 division winner and the Chiefs are just starting to rebuild.
Tom Cable gave an ever-so-gentle reminder to JaMarcus Russell at the NFL’s owners meetings they expect him to build upon the final six weeks of the season in terms of work ethic and leadership.
Meanwhile, Josh McDaniels maneuvered his way into a nasty divorce with quarterback Jay Cutler, and though it benefits the Broncos in the long run to be rid of a player who looks more like a spoiled front-runner every day, it could mean a rocky 2009 as Denver reconstructs both its defense and its offense under the direction of a new and yet-to-be discovered on-field leader.
The San Diego Chargers were confident enough in their division-winning 8-8 to make no virtually no moves. Their coach is still Norv Turner. Is it just me, or is the whole LaDainian Tomlinson-Darren Sproles issue going to be a big problem? Tomlinson’s stature will make it difficult to move him aside. With the Raiders, it will create barely a ripple with the fan base and the player involved if they nudge Justin Fargas aside to get more use out of Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.
In Kansas City, Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley are in the early stages of rebuilding, and they’re doing with a cold, calculated, arrogance which could turn off not only fans but many of their players, with Tony Gonzalez and Larry Johnson being the two elephants in the room.
Pioli comes with excellent credentials, but his dynamic is different. He worked with Bill Belichick in New England. In Kansas City, Haley works for him.
With no access to the offseason program, it’s impossible to know for sure, but the guess here is Cable is fostering the same sort of chemistry he managed to forge last year with a team which was sold out by both the owner and the coach, both of whom placed their own running battle above everything else.
The teamwork of Al Davis and Cable has already paid dividends in the signing of Khalif Barnes. Cable wanted him, Davis got him, but at his price.
(Whether Barnes can actually be a top-level offensive lineman is a story which will play itself out).
Long-time Raider bashers really don’t have a lot to work with right now. No huge-money deals to questionable free agents. The re-signing of their most important players (Nnamdi Asomugha, Shane Lechler, Isaiah Ekejiuba).
You know it’s slim pickings when letting Rashad Baker get away to the Philadelphia Eagles is the biggest point of contention.
There are huge issues to be addressed. Other than bringing in a new coordinator, the Raiders have done next to nothing about their run defense, which gives up touchdowns like no other in the NFL.
They’ll have to bring Russell along to the point where he can carry an attack if their own running game struggles. As a virtual rookie, Russell was much better when the Raiders were run-heavy, one of the legitimate points Lane Kiffin made repeatedly before his feud with Davis was finally and mercifully terminated by the owner, even if it continues in arbitration.
Oakland has already demonstrated it can beat Kansas City and Denver, and a win over San Diego is overdue. A win in Week 1 would be huge, and while the Raiders have done face plants in their last two Monday night openers, any resemblance to the team which won its last two games of the season in 2008 would make them competitive.
A few more notes after being away for the better part of the last week:
– What agents you manage to reach for the top players in the draft insist nothing has been set up with the Raiders for visits to Alameda. It’s not particularly significant. They get plenty of information between combines, Pro Days and their own research, and it’s also possible they’ve snuck a player or three in under the radar and requested it be kept a secret.
What the lack of publicized visits does do is heighten speculation that of those players generally figured to be a possibility at No. 7 _ Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Andre Smith, Everette Brown, Aaron Orapko, B.J. Raji, etc. _ maybe none of them figure in the equation.
Perhaps the Raiders are planning to break with tradition and trade down, with the Philadelphia Eagles holding the No. 21 and 28 picks in the first round. On the “trade value” chart I looked at, the No. 7 overall pick was worth 1,500 points, with No. 21 worth 800 and No. 28 worth 660.
(More than a few questions were sent in regarding this possibility during yesterday’s on-line chat).
Of course, Davis is about the last guy in the world I could imagine looking at a chart and saying he needs another 40 points to make the deal.
– Included in the transcript I posted before embarking on a trip to the happiest place on earth (other than Harbor Bay Parkway, of course) was an enthusiastic Cable response to his team’s character:
“I know the core of the team. I know the Morrisons and the Howards and the Gerard Warrens and the Nnamdi Asomughas, the Hiram Eugenes, the Chris Johnsons, the Cooper Carlisles, the Justin Fargas, the Darren McFaddens, the Zach Millers, the Robert Gallerys,” Cable said. “I can name a lot. You can see why I like this football team…there’s good reason why – there’s good character, there’s good people, there’s good talent, there’s good football players.”
It’s easy to read too much into a quote like that, but it’s at least interesting that among those he didn’t mention were Russell, Tommy Kelly and Michael Bush.
– We can also safety assume that Johnson and Eugene are both under contract, despite their free agent status (Eugene was a restricted free agent) and the fact the Raiders have never announced the signing of either man.
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 1:07 pm in Oakland Raiders.
What better day to proclaim the Raiders contenders to claim their first division title since 2002 than April Fool’s Day?
Except it’s no joke.
Look around the division. Dysfunction junction has moved to Colorado, the Chargers are acting as if if they were a 12-4 division winner and the Chiefs are just starting to rebuild.
Tom Cable gave an ever-so-gentle reminder to JaMarcus Russell at the NFL’s owners meetings they expect him to build upon the final six weeks of the season in terms of work ethic and leadership.
Meanwhile, Josh McDaniels maneuvered his way into a nasty divorce with quarterback Jay Cutler, and though it benefits the Broncos in the long run to be rid of a player who looks more like a spoiled front-runner every day, it could mean a rocky 2009 as Denver reconstructs both its defense and its offense under the direction of a new and yet-to-be discovered on-field leader.
The San Diego Chargers were confident enough in their division-winning 8-8 to make no virtually no moves. Their coach is still Norv Turner. Is it just me, or is the whole LaDainian Tomlinson-Darren Sproles issue going to be a big problem? Tomlinson’s stature will make it difficult to move him aside. With the Raiders, it will create barely a ripple with the fan base and the player involved if they nudge Justin Fargas aside to get more use out of Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.
In Kansas City, Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley are in the early stages of rebuilding, and they’re doing with a cold, calculated, arrogance which could turn off not only fans but many of their players, with Tony Gonzalez and Larry Johnson being the two elephants in the room.
Pioli comes with excellent credentials, but his dynamic is different. He worked with Bill Belichick in New England. In Kansas City, Haley works for him.
With no access to the offseason program, it’s impossible to know for sure, but the guess here is Cable is fostering the same sort of chemistry he managed to forge last year with a team which was sold out by both the owner and the coach, both of whom placed their own running battle above everything else.
The teamwork of Al Davis and Cable has already paid dividends in the signing of Khalif Barnes. Cable wanted him, Davis got him, but at his price.
(Whether Barnes can actually be a top-level offensive lineman is a story which will play itself out).
Long-time Raider bashers really don’t have a lot to work with right now. No huge-money deals to questionable free agents. The re-signing of their most important players (Nnamdi Asomugha, Shane Lechler, Isaiah Ekejiuba).
You know it’s slim pickings when letting Rashad Baker get away to the Philadelphia Eagles is the biggest point of contention.
There are huge issues to be addressed. Other than bringing in a new coordinator, the Raiders have done next to nothing about their run defense, which gives up touchdowns like no other in the NFL.
They’ll have to bring Russell along to the point where he can carry an attack if their own running game struggles. As a virtual rookie, Russell was much better when the Raiders were run-heavy, one of the legitimate points Lane Kiffin made repeatedly before his feud with Davis was finally and mercifully terminated by the owner, even if it continues in arbitration.
Oakland has already demonstrated it can beat Kansas City and Denver, and a win over San Diego is overdue. A win in Week 1 would be huge, and while the Raiders have done face plants in their last two Monday night openers, any resemblance to the team which won its last two games of the season in 2008 would make them competitive.
A few more notes after being away for the better part of the last week:
– What agents you manage to reach for the top players in the draft insist nothing has been set up with the Raiders for visits to Alameda. It’s not particularly significant. They get plenty of information between combines, Pro Days and their own research, and it’s also possible they’ve snuck a player or three in under the radar and requested it be kept a secret.
What the lack of publicized visits does do is heighten speculation that of those players generally figured to be a possibility at No. 7 _ Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Andre Smith, Everette Brown, Aaron Orapko, B.J. Raji, etc. _ maybe none of them figure in the equation.
Perhaps the Raiders are planning to break with tradition and trade down, with the Philadelphia Eagles holding the No. 21 and 28 picks in the first round. On the “trade value” chart I looked at, the No. 7 overall pick was worth 1,500 points, with No. 21 worth 800 and No. 28 worth 660.
(More than a few questions were sent in regarding this possibility during yesterday’s on-line chat).
Of course, Davis is about the last guy in the world I could imagine looking at a chart and saying he needs another 40 points to make the deal.
– Included in the transcript I posted before embarking on a trip to the happiest place on earth (other than Harbor Bay Parkway, of course) was an enthusiastic Cable response to his team’s character:
“I know the core of the team. I know the Morrisons and the Howards and the Gerard Warrens and the Nnamdi Asomughas, the Hiram Eugenes, the Chris Johnsons, the Cooper Carlisles, the Justin Fargas, the Darren McFaddens, the Zach Millers, the Robert Gallerys,” Cable said. “I can name a lot. You can see why I like this football team…there’s good reason why – there’s good character, there’s good people, there’s good talent, there’s good football players.”
It’s easy to read too much into a quote like that, but it’s at least interesting that among those he didn’t mention were Russell, Tommy Kelly and Michael Bush.
– We can also safety assume that Johnson and Eugene are both under contract, despite their free agent status (Eugene was a restricted free agent) and the fact the Raiders have never announced the signing of either man.
