After the offseason began with false rumors of Tom Cable’s imminent firing and then moved along to the release of embattled quarterback JaMarcus Russell, things have settled down in Raiderland — a rarity over the past few seasons. Cable is firmly in control of the team and Russell is out of the picture. While a playoff berth in 2010 is a long shot, the Raiders should have enough pieces in place to show steady improvement on both sides of the ball.
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Evidence suggests Al Davis is no longer working alone in making personnel decisions for the Raiders.
Davis would never admit that, of course, but the drafting and trading decisions this offseason don’t seem like the work of the same man who drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey last year, traded for cornerback DeAngelo Hall or signed wide receiver Javon Walker as a free agent.
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Hurry! Get your draft grade in now! You can’t call yourself “expert” writer-anchor-talk show host-fan unless you’re able to pass judgment on the talent and performance of 200-plus new NFL players from about a hundred colleges in over a dozen conferences that you’ve never seen play ... by the time they leave the podium! Or at the very least, by the time their flights land in their new cities!
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If JaMarcus Russell wants to remove his name from the list of all-time busts, he needs to take a look at the careers of the great Raiders quarterbacks.
In order, I’d rate the best this way: Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett, Rich Gannon, Daryle Lamonica. Only Plunkett and Lamonica had strong arms, but all four had great leadership qualities.
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A little of this, and a lot of that ...
- Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, one the most well-liked personalities in baseball, admitted last week to testing positive for cocaine at the age of 56. Asked to explain his bizarre behavior, Washington said his eyes aren’t as good as they once were, and that he thought he was ingesting flaxseed powder.
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Great idea moving the Pro Bowl to the same city as the Super Bowl. Smart too, to schedule the game the week before the Super Bowl. Now all the NFL needs to do is find a reason for anyone to tune in to Sunday’s all-star charade.
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For Christmas, Raiders fans should hope that Al Davis finally hires a general manager and gives him authority to make the following moves:
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Bruce Gradkowski solidified his position as starting quarterback by leading the Raiders to an upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals — and he may have ended JaMarcus Russell’s career in Oakland.
Remember that NFL contracts are basically one-year deals with multiple club options because teams can cut a player after any year. That’s why agents fight hard for a big first-year payoff and signing bonuses, the only guaranteed money in a contract.
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After driving 250 miles each way to the Oakland Coliseum, a caller to last Sunday’s Raiders postgame talk show said when his beloved Silver and Black played as poorly as they did against the Broncos, they deserve to be booed.
Judging by the barrage of criticism that rained down from the stands with every errant JaMarcus Russell throw, it wasn’t just out-of-towners venting their displeasure with the struggling quarterback.
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It’s bad to make a mistake on a No. 1 draft pick. It’s worse to pretend it isn’t a mistake and try to justify it. That’s where the Raiders are now with JaMarcus Russell.
In 2007, when the Raiders had that top pick, they drafted Russell, who had a great college career. He was not a polished quarterback, but he had the strong arm Al Davis loves, and it seemed he could be developed.
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