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Al Davis Needs To Hire a GM

Color me pissed after draft day. Whie I expected us to go with Heyward-Bey I was hoping crazy Al would prove me wrong. I was hoping with Tom Cable takng the reigns he would straighten Al up like Parcells did to Jerry Jones. I guess not. Anyway here's my thoughts on the pathetic draft we turned in. 

Star-divide

Darius Heyward- Bey (Grade-FAIL)

I absolutely hated this pick, with Crabtree still on the board this pick deserves a -50 on a scale of 1-10. Yes, Bey ha all the speed you want, but does he have agility? No, he's a straight line runner that needs 3-4 steps to make cuts, he won't be shedding DB's in the immediate passing game. Another thing, with all that speed is it really worth it? KC has one of the fastest safeties in the league, Denver has the greatest CB in the league, and San Diego has arguably the best CB tandem in the entire NFL. Bey's speed will be for naught if he can't bump off of these guys with strength that he does not have. 

Michael Mitchell (Grade- EPIC FAIL)

Really we traded back for Michael Mitchell with Ron Brace still on the board? NT was one of our greatest needs and Curry could have been serviceable for another season but Al drafted Michael Mitchell, a 7th round prospect. I really shouldn't go into the fact that 6 safties rated higher than Mitchell went in later rounds. 

Matt Shaughnessy (Grade- FAIL)

Really? A fifth round prospect in the third Al? Given, there wasn't much choice in the DE market but in situations like these you go after another position and draft the guy one round early in the fourth not two rounds early in the third, third round picks are valuable. Also the fact that only two DE's (one higher rated than Shaughnessy) were picked before our next selection kind of pisses me off.

Louis Murphy (Grade- A+)

Finding Murphy this late in the draft was a no brainer. An early third round prospect in the fourth? I'd take that any day, then again, if you got ten bums off the street nine of them would take him, so it didn't take Al much Brain power. The fact that Murphy has an injury history may very well make this pick a very Raideresque BUST. But as for now I'm predicting a better rookie season for Murphy than Bey.

Slade Norris (Grade- WTF!!?)

Slade Norris!? Holy shit Al what the hell were you thinking. I bet every GM went "who?" after this pick. He's not from OSU, or Oregon, no he's he's from tiny Oregon state! I guess Al, being faced with the dilemma of having to reach on every pick finding himself in the 5th round looked into the rookie free agent pool. Really Zack Follet was better value for Detroit and they got him in the 7th.

Styker Sulak (Grade- C)

I would have given this grade a B had we not reached for Shaugnessy in the third. Sulak belongs exactly where he was drafted but we drafted a DE in the third? We wasted a pick on epic proportion with either this or the third round pick. There were so many needs, there's no reason to go DE twice with Burgess on the roster. 

Brandon Myers (Grade- Meh)

It's the 7th round. Really we could have gone for a sleeper NT here but Al feels the need to draft a TE when we have one of the better TE's in the league. Myers is good value here but we really should have gone elsewhere with this pick. But hey, I expect at least 5 of these picks to be cut within two seasons already, why should I expect any more out of the 7th? 

 

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Control Issues

Stars Wars fans know about that. Al giving up control to a GM, is like asking Lucas to go out and get a real screenwriter to do some decent dialogue.

by rightnasty on Apr 27, 2009 1:25 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

100% agreement, but....

just like our draft picks must have at least better than 4.4 speed (regardless of football skills), wisdom will never win out here.

I agree with your post. But I am not as mad about the second rounder. The last few weeks, this guy’s stock has been rising. He is a hard hitting safety who can actually cover. Now, I know its a reach, but I will give Al some credit. This guy is a Safety (position we need), that can hit (tackle running backs), and can cover (has at least 4.4 speed).

Remember DHB only scored like 5 touchdowns. With all that speed, he only ran away from people into the endzone 5 times last year.

Mitchel has a chance of having quite a bit of playing time this year. Murphey will have a better career than DHB.

by gl12ox05 on Apr 27, 2009 2:00 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

the only two potential gms davis would listen to would be parcells and madden, both of which i highly doubt would be gms for oakland

by mttddd on Apr 27, 2009 2:30 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I think you'd see Madden

before Parcells.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til I die!

by mikesd1981 on Apr 27, 2009 6:12 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

That would be the shit...

Can you imagine if Madden was running our team. I know he’s getting old but that guy has a lot of football knowledge and I know al respects him. I think he was the best head coach the raiders ever had and I bet he would make a solid general manager.

by kawelu on Apr 28, 2009 7:49 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

The key thing is

I think Al wouls LISTEN to him.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til I die!

by mikesd1981 on Apr 28, 2009 11:41 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I would put money on that...

davis loves madden as he is responsible for some of the best days the raiders have even seen. I don’t recall ever hearing one of them ever saying a bad or negative thing about each other. Davis also had the honor of indicting him into the HOF and I know he would trust his decisions.

by kawelu on Apr 29, 2009 1:12 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Madden actually asked him to do that

so that may be the one coach we have had that doesn’t have any animosity against Davis.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til I die!

by mikesd1981 on Apr 29, 2009 4:31 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yeah, probably so...

let’s see how cable does and then after his coaching stint, we’ll see if we can add him to that list.

by kawelu on Apr 29, 2009 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Doubtful.

Only because I’m not sure Cable has the ability for that position. Just because someone is a coach does not mean that can be a GM.

Win, Lose, or Tie, Raiders til I die!

by mikesd1981 on Apr 29, 2009 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Haha, no Mike...

I mean cable joining the list with Madden being the only coach with no animosity against davis.

by kawelu on Apr 29, 2009 9:46 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I’m sorry, but I strongly disagree with that grade given to Murphy. What was the point in drafting a guy that’s going to be your fifth receiver when you have other needs?

The Ultimate Opportunist

by Rated-R Superstar on Apr 27, 2009 4:20 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I honestly think he can end up our 3rd reciever by the end of the year I think he will take JLH's spot eventually

you also have to remember you draft a player to play for you for 5 years not one!

"Mel Kiper has his opinion and I respect it. But what does it mean? My 9-year-old nephew can watch film and make an opinion. I think I value the opinion of scouts who get paid to make their opinions. It will carry me through my career. It will serve as motivation for me." - Mike Mitchell

by Ozraider on Apr 28, 2009 2:48 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

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