All Hands On-Deck: Oakland Raider Mini Camp Begins Today

As I stated in earlier posts Al is still unwilling to give up on this monumental gaffe known to the rest of us as “JaFatass”
I have to wonder if it was the overhead projector fueled rant to Kiffin that is Al’s last thing to get over. The “he’s going to be great so get over it” line that still sticks in his craw like a long lost hoagie.
Anyone else, even Al in the old days, would have cut JaFatass for not restructuring his contract, but noooo not this time. JR will have to prove his ineptness and laziness beyond a shadow of a overhead projected doubt.

Al………. I know you read this…we are on our way to a playoff season….Ja fatsicle cannot help us !! We all hate him ….he doesn’t try….let him take his $ back to Vegas so he can go live in a studio apt with Leaf in TX…….cut him and our losses!….we all make a mistake…with this cancer on the team…..we upset the cart…..Raider Nation is behind your new draft………CUT JaMarcus Popsicle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the Raiders cut JR and no one picks him up, would the Raiders be able to re-sign him at a reduced salary? It’s a certainty that no one would sign him at his current salary, so if NFL rules allow him to be re-signed, it would be a way for Al to keep his boy without making the team suffer so much financially.

Even though it is a 3 day mini camp w/ no contact, we can still have glimpses of the future. Jerry McDonald pointed out that last year

• Derrick Burgess developed the stomach flu before camp (Russell may get this, too)
• DHB had a problem holding onto the ball
• DHB and Mitchell both had hamstring pulls
• Russell couldn’t complete anything
• 10 center QB exchange fumbles

I fully expect better reports from this years camp. Good write up, Saint!

would go a long way towards getting back the locker room and letting the players know that slothlike attitudes will not be tolerated. For the Raiders, it always seems like for every step they take forward, they take a big step back. If Russell had any sense of loyalty, team, or accountability, he would restructure his contract and take a step back and try to regain his status on the team. Unfortunately, the guy hasn’t shown any sense of humility through it all and has always blamed others for his failures (and the team lets him get away with it). I wish we could just end his tenure here, but it sounds like that may not happen.

Routt sighting, must’ve signed the tender…
Gallery there practicing after back surgey.
Russell does not look 300 pounds… (BS cut him)
(per writter’s twitter posts, so far)

JRich,Kelly,Bryant,Shaugnessy (Sey not here yet, so JRich will be backup)
….Wimbley,McClain,Scott
         Branch/Huff
Namdi…………………CJ

Oakland Raiders Twitter update:

Also comprehensive photo galleries are on the way. half a minute ago via txt

What the shit? I hope this is just a pre cautionary thing. Chaz needs to stay healthy.

Jerry McDonald had something positive:

Russell throwing with authority in routine drills, lots of clean DHB catches . . . vs. no D, but you got to start somewhere 12 minutes ago via PockeTwit

Kate Longworth has a JaMarcus Russell picture.

Jerry McDonald mentions our rookie offensive linemen:

Still no team session , Jared Veldheer taking dummy reps as an left tackle, Bruce Campbell as a right guard 3 minutes ago via PockeTwit

KLongworthCSN Good energy and some hard hits as new coaches #MikeWauffle and #HueJackson get acquainted with their players less than 20 seconds ago via OpenBeak

KLongworthCSN As for the QBs #JaMarcusRussell #CharlieFrye #KyleBoller & #JasonCampbell sticking close as they rotate in and of drills 1 minute ago via OpenBeak

Where do you find the up dates on twitter?

Russell completes back to back passes, to DHB short in traffic, medium depth to Murphy

J. Mc update

He’s gonna start the season.

,

cann’t find him on roster

 More than likely it’s rookie DB McFadden.

Here to “compete” with the BlingBling still on, LOL!

Please Please let it be Russel is no more How I wish for thee .

that JR snapped the F out of it and finally figured out that the jig is up?

Did he change his number from #34?

“Tom Cable says fb oren o’neal has been waived”

Must not have passed his physical before the minicamp. It’s a shame, because he had a lot of upside. Good thing they brought in some promising young guys into the fold.

anyone know why?

Jerrymcd
Cable: Seymour absent from minicamp while a longterm contract is negotiated with Raiders.

Well it’s actually our money to, not just Al’s. I for one think that since he doesn’t want to work with the team on repaying some money he STOLE from us or even restructure his contract, I don’t want to spend any of my money on anything “Raiders” that goes back into JR’s pocket! I give Kiffen credit, he knew JR was a bust and if Davis had let him contribute more on draft day, who knows where we might be now.

Good.. Bad.. Terrible?? updates plz

Jerrymcd
Michael Bennett in camp for Raiders on tryout basis . . .

The second session is beginning.

KLongworthCSN #TomCable on #JaMarcusRussell’s off-season workout and weight: the kid’s working his tail off lets leave it at that #Raiders 3 minutes ago via web

Mr Davis is on fire!

• W McFadden got burnt a few times. (We still don’t know who #34 is)
• Campbell threw some wobblers and at least one was picked
• T. Scott wasn’t on the field
• L Murphy was participating
• Campbell struggling with timing to new WR’s
• No comments about DHB dropping any passes from afternoon session (hopefully this means there weren’t any)

• W McFadden got burnt a few times. (We still don’t know who #34 is)
• Campbell threw some wobblers and at least one was picked
• T. Scott wasn’t on the field
• L Murphy was participating
• Campbell struggling with timing to new WR’s
• No comments about DHB dropping any passes from afternoon session (hopefully this means there weren’t any)

Click photo to enlargeOakland Raiders QB’s JaMarcus Russell throws a pass during a mandatory mini-camp at the Oakland…"12345"
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Slide show: Our first look at the `new’ JaMarcus Russell at Oakland Raiders minicamp

JaMarcus Russell question looming over Oakland Raiders’ minicamp

Oakland Raiders beef up at fullback, sign former Redskin Rock Cartwright

Transcript: Inside the Raiders live chat from Wednesday

Poole: Raiders owner Al Davis finally sees light, hitches wagon with Tom Cable, not JaMarcus Russell

Kawakami: Time for the Raiders and JaMarcus Russell to move on

JaMarcus Russell’s mere presence at the Raiders first minicamp Friday made him stand out among his teammates. His surprisingly impressive passes and sub-300-pound frame made him worth watching even longer.

Here he was, acting as the Raiders hoped he would when they drafted him first overall in 2007. Too little, too late? Probably, but Friday’s show made me wonder if he really does have a chance, a second chance.

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

Russell’s arm strength never has been in question, so watching him zip passes was nothing new. To see those lasers reach their target — only about four passes of, say, 25 fell incomplete — was stunning.

As for his always controversial weigh, he didn’t appear or play like he was carrying 300 pounds, as multiple reports pegged his super-sized frame.

So now what? Can he really go about the business of competing for a starting job he lost midway through last season? For now, yes. But his contract must be addressed, right?

He is due $9.45 million base salary, $3 million of which is guaranteed whether or not he is on the opening-game roster.

Asked in the post-practice press conference if he has restructured his contract, Russell initially didn’t have a chance to answer. Raiders-appointed chaperon Eddie Anderson interrupted and said that

question was off limits. I followed up, however, and Russell confirmed he has not reworked his deal, “not at all.”

Would Al Davis keep Russell around at that steep price as a backup to probable starter Jason Campbell? Seems ludicrous, until you realize the Raiders have mastered ludicrous in years past (see: Javon Walker, an expensive bench warmer 2009).

Russell doesn’t seem the least bit bothered that his status is up in the air after Saturday’s trade for Campbell.

“We’re teammates. We’re not fighting for each other,” said Russell, noting he was a junior in high school when he first met Campbell . “We’re out here to compete and get better for the organization.”

That Russell was allowed out there — thus putting the Raiders on the hook for his salary if he got hurt — was surprising if they are inclined to cut ties with him. That didn’t faze him either.

“Not at all. It’s a business,” Russell said. “That aspect, I don’t have anything to do with that. It’s a higher level than me. My job is to keep coming and competing every day.”

His job is also to answer the media’s questions. He should not need Anderson to cut off reporters’ questions — as was the case when Russell got asked, (1.) if Cable called him after the trade for Campbell; (2.) if he expects to be the Raiders’ starting quarterback in Week 1; (3.) if he could tell us his ideal playing weight, a question that prompted Anderson to end the interview session.

If Russell is to be the starting quarterback and serve as the face of the franchise — the latter is part of his job description so long as he is employed here — then he must answer every question himself, even if it warrants a “no comment.”

His on-field demeanor, however, is what mattered more Friday. He looked good. He looked better than Campbell, Kyle Boller and Charlie Frye, who took the initial snap with the first-team before Russell got his turn, followed by Campbell and then Boller.

Russell zipped mostly short-range passes to the Raiders’ still ridiculously raw receiving corps. His third pass was his longest, a 35-yard spiraling lob that landed in the hands of rookie Jacoby Ford, who fell down while catching the slightly underthrown pass.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/raiders/ci_14992867?source=rss

I still say cutting him’s the best option, but am not ruling out Al somehow working some kind of deal and coming out smelling like a rose on this one.

To solve the #36 mystery, the guys name is Joey Thomas, from Montana State. He came into the nfl w the packers in 04, played until 05, didnt play in 06 or 07, in 08 he played for the dolphins, didnt play at all last year, and now hes at our minicamp.