Ever since our crushing defeat in  Super Bowl XXXVII against the Bucs the Raiders have not been the same. We have been on a decline since. One of the major reason I feel is our inability to build via the draft. Going into 02' season the Raiders Jerry Rice was on his 18th season, Rich Gannon his 15th, Tim Brown in his 15th and our LT Lincoln Kennedy his 10th. We still managed to go to the Super Bowl that season on old legs. Lost in all this was our inability to draft suitable backups. I have pulled out the Raiders Draft starting at 2000 the year we drafted Porter so we can see what we have done. I didn't include this years class because they have yet to go through a full season.

2000 
1. Sebastian Janikowski, K, Florida State
2. Jerry Porter, WR, West Virginia
4. Junior Ioane, DT, Arizona State
5. Shane Lechler, P, Texas A&M
7a. Mondriel Fulcher, TE, Miami (Fla.)
7b. Cliffton Black, DB, S.W. Texas State

2001 
1. Derrick Gibson, S, Florida State
2. Marques Tuiasosopo, QB Washington
3. DeLawrence Grant, DE, Oregon State
5. Raymond Perryman, S, Northern Arizona
6. Chris Cooper, DE, Nebraska-Omaha
7a. Derek Combs, RB, Ohio State
7b. Ken-Yon Rambo, WR, Ohio State

2002
1a. Phillip Buchanon, CB, Miami, Fla.
1b. Napoleon Harris, LB, Northwestern
2a. Langston Walker, OL, California
2b. Doug Jolley, TE, BYU
5. Kenyon Coleman, DE, UCLA
6a. Keyon Nash, DB, Albany State (Ga.)
6b. Larry Ned, RB, San Diego State
7. Ronald Curry, QB, North Carolina 

2003 
1a. Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, California
1b. Tyler Brayton, DE, Colorado
2. Teyo Johnson, TE, Stanford
3a. Sam Williams, DE, Fresno State
3b. Justin Fargas, RB, USC
4. Shurron Pierson, LB, South Florida
5. Doug Gabriel, WR, Central Florida
6. Dustin Rykert, T, BYU
7a. Sideeq Shabazz, S, New Mexico State
7b. Ryan Hoag, WR Gustavus Adolphus

2004 
1. Robert Gallery, OT, Iowa
2. Jake Grove, C, Virginia Tech
3. Stuart Schweigert, S, Purdue
4. Carlos Francis, WR, Texas Tech
5. Johnnie Morant, WR, Syracuse
6a. Shawn Johnson, DE, Delaware
6b. Cody Spencer, LB, North Texas
7a. Courtney Anderson, TE, San Jose State

2005 
1. Fabian Washington, CB, Nebraska
2. Stanford Routt, CB, Houston
3a. Andrew Walter, QB, Arizona State
3b. Kirk Morrison, LB, San Diego State
6a. Anttaj Hawthorne, DT, Wisconsin
6b. Ryan Riddle, LB, California
6c. Pete McMahon, OT, Iowa

2006 
1. Michael Huff, S, Texas
2. Thomas Howard, LB, Texas-El Paso
3. Paul McQuistan, OL, Weber State
4. Darnell Bing, S, USC
6. Kevin Boothe, OL, Cornell
7a. Chris Morris, C, Michigan State
7b. Kevin McMahan, WR, Maine

2007 
1. JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU
2. Zach Miller, TE, Arizona State
3a. Quentin Moses, DE, Georgia
3b. Mario Henderson, OL, Florida State
3c. Johnnie Lee Higgins, WR, UTEP
4a. Michael Bush, RB, Louisville
4b. John Bowie, CB, Cincinnati
5a. Jay Richardson, DE, Ohio State
5b. Eric Frampton, S, Washington State
6. Oren O'Neal, FB, Arkansas State
7. Jonathan Holland, WR, Louisiana Tech  

  Since 2000 we have drafted 4 QB's, 9 WR's , and 9 OL.

QB's-

Marques Tuiasosopo- Has been a career backup in Oakland and his one year with   the Jet's. Never stood out in the games he got to play in. 

Ronald Curry- Drafted as a QB he converted to WR to make the practice squad and he has shown flashes of greatness at times. A solid WR

Andrew Walter- Can't say he was a horrible quarterback because this kid never got a fair chance. Behind our terrible O-Line he was a punching bag for defenses. Who knows how he could've developed behind a solid O-Line.                                                                                                                                  

JaMarcus Russell- He is our Franchise Quarterback. What we have in him time will tell. He has a tremendous upside but several factors play into his development. The run game and our O-line. If our run game is better than last year we can slowly bring him along.

WR's-

I will only state a few because there are too many to list.

Jerry Porter- Easily the most productive WR that we have drafted during this period. He was a strong athletic reciever who played well at times but mostly underachieved during his time with the Raiders. We'll wait to see what he does in Jacksonville.

Doug Gabriel- Had some productive years with the Raiders with 04' being his most productive. He's had two stints with the Raiders,one with the Patriots and he had signed with the Bengals on April 8, 2008. He was released by the team on May 29.                                                                               

 Jonathan Holland- It looks like the writing is on the wall for him. He will most likely be a practice  squad player.                                                                                                                                                              

Johnnie Lee Higgins- The jury is still out on this kid. He had a dissapointing rookie year. Reports said he looked good at times in camp catching everything thrown to him and then next day he couldn't catch a cold. He has to prove himself this year or don't expect to see him come next season.

OL-

Robert Gallery-  This guy came into the league with plenty of fanfare. He quickly proved to be a bust at the Tackle position. Part of his problem was he was inconsistent with his hand technique, he remains too upright in his stance, he's more of a catcher than a striker and that his arms are too short. He has found success at guard and with another solid year he can shed that bust label.

Paul McQuistan- Stepped up big time when Cornell Green went down. The Raiders then went three games without a sack. He is a good pickup seeing as he can play either position guard or tackle. For now he will back up Gallery or Carlisle but don't be surprised to see him take the RT spot from Green or Henderson.                                                                                                       

Langston Walker- I was disappointed to see him leave. He was a good tackle who definately would've fit in with our new system. He is now with the Bills and part of an offensive line that allowed only 26 sacks, the fewest allowed by Buffalo since sacks became an official NFL statistic  in 1982. 

Jake Grove- He has not yet lived up to the expectations placed upon him as the second round pick in 2004. The knock on him is that he's athletic and gritty but lacks power. Most likely will see back up duty.                                          

Kevin Boothe-  Played in a few games for the but was cut by the start of the 07' season. He hatched on to the Giants but didn't play(at least he has a ring).

Chris Morris-  Has been mostly a practice squad player who is in the mix for the C  position.                                                                                  

Mario Henderson-  Kiffin himself said this of Mario "he continues to have issues surrounding his physicality and passion for the game. 'There was a lot of ability there when we picked him,' Kiffin said of Henderson. 'There were some questions about how physical he was, about his passion for the game, for the position, so we’re trying to improve that.' Kiffin added, 'Pads will be big for Mario. Mario’s got a lot of tools but he needs to become a physical player. To play on this line, we want physical guys and so that’s where Mario is going to have to really grow.    

   As you can see we have not had much success in our past drafts. This is one of my reasons why the Raiders have been bad these past years. I would like to get your thoughts as to why the Raiders have struggled.

(Sorry for the spaces but I couldn't get it to work properly without them)