Wait, There's More Booty?

Let's dive into the rest of the loot.

First, let me say, I just had the privelage of watching the Ice Cube cinematic masterpiece about the Raiders and I don't think I am over exaggerating when I say it is the greatest thing ever created. It has wrestled the mantle from, consciousness and the KFC Double Down Sandwich.

I can hear the sounds of football now and, "Yes Mr. Williams, I am indeed ready for some football." 121 days until we invade Tennessee and make Vince Young wish he remained depressed and on the bench.

So, without further ado, a look at the rest of the Raiders' new treasures.

Kamerion Wimbley

Wimbley used his flying move to great success...until teams figured it out.

Wimbley left the Dawgs with different impressions of his potential. He is an athletic guy and quick on his feet. He is, however, a one trick pony when it comes to pass rushing. This accounts for his diminishing sack numbers. He is a straight speed rusher, with no inside moves. He doesn't have a power move and can struggle to shed blockers. Fans have been waiting in vain for the development of one. At this point, they doubt that he can. 

Fans can see he has improved his run D and coverage skills. While he is certainly not elite in these areas, he should not be a liability either. He was a high pick, which leads to some of the disappointment from the fans, but they all love his intensity and say he brings it on every play. There was no questioning his work ethic or attitude.

The difference in opinion seems to come when discussing his potential. Some feel he will be greatly benefited by the switch in Defensive schemes. Some mention he will be better off playing with his hand in the dirt and others that he is well suited to be the weak-side 4-3 OLB.

Poll results:

Quentin Groves

Quentin Groves may live up to his potential if he whips his fat ass into shape!

The majority of fans expressed that Groves best fit would be as an OLB in a 3-4. He doesn’t shed blockers. Groves has good speed, but not much agility and his speed was diminishing as he was gaining weight to become an every down DE.

Many people felt he is best suited to be an OLB in a 3-4. He is too light to be an every down 4-3 DE and will be exploited in the run as a DE and in 252 snaps last year he didn't get a sack.

Groves failed to gain any identity in Jacksonville and never met his lofty draft day expectations. The coaches will have to find any potential he has for him to be contributor. He is still young and his athleticicsm and work ethic may end up in him contributing to an NFL team, but he is a project.

He may come in right away and make some special teams plays. He is another guy that fans liked as a person and his intensity was never questioned.

Poll results:

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Walter McFadden

This is all I need to see. You can play ahead of Routt.

McFadden pretty regularly played with injuries. Apparently the guy plays with reckless abandon and his smallish body takes the brunt of it. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

He finished his college career playing in a zone system, but due to playing in a crappy secondary and his studliness, he was often in man situations against the other teams best WR. He was able to handle these match-ups unless injuries were getting the best of him. It was mentioned that he may struggle against the bigger WR’s, but overall he was a shutdown college corner when he was healthy.

Poll results:

Travis Goethel

This may happen a lot to Goethel in the NFL

Travis Goethel is the kind of player even his own fans have a hard time projecting to success, even though they have nothing, but respect for him. I didn’t get many opinions on Goethel, but what I did get was pretty thorough.

He is not athletic enough to be an impact player on the next level, but he does have good football intelligence and busts his ass. He has experience at inside and outside LB. He is very stout against the run. He has to use his instincts to get to the ball as he is limited by his lack of speed.

He has special teams experience and this is likely where we can expect him to make his impact in games. He is a sure and hard hitting tackler. His work ethic should push others in practice.

ASU's site gets the award for poor voter turn-out. Not even everyone that commented voted! Come on Sun Devils, Rock the Vote!

Poll results:

Jeremy Ware

If he gets to you, you'll know it.

Again, there was not a lot of diverse input for Ware. He has solid speed and good athleticism. For a CB he is a big hitter. He plays hard and fast. 

He has struggled in zone coverage, does not have ball-hawking instincts and has not played a lot of man-to-man in college. Other than that.... Maybe he will shine as a man-to-man guy. He won't have to worry about adjusting to a ball in flight.

This looks like another special teams pick. If he sticks, he will add secondary depth as he might be able to play some safety, too.

Poll results:

Stevie Brown 

Brown is preparing to stick a twisting handspring double back-flip.

Brown was described as a Safety that doesn’t read the deep ball well and takes bad angles. Maybe he too, will be better as a man-to-man cover guy.

He is yet another guy that was described as a high character guy that will outwork everyone on the team. The Raiders weight room will be going 24 hours a day with the workout addicts they have added.

Also, he is another big hitter. He actually made the switch to LB his senior year. He probably doesn’t have the speed to make it in the NFL, but maybe in some sets he could cover a TE and add run support.

His best chance is to make it as a special teams standout.

Poll results:

*Warning: The image below may cause dizziness, nausea, impotence, blindness, instant death or worse.

This has proven to be the most fruitful of off-season pillages. The Raider's landed two top-notch defensive players that project to be contributors for years to come. Both are the kind of players that will set an example and create a standard that can help shape a franchise.

They landed two lineman in the middle rounds that have pro-bowl ceilings. They grabbed a slot wr/return man and a cb with the potential to be a difference maker. 

Then with the late round picks they went for hard-hitting versatile D players, who will push themselves to make a difference and make an impact on special teams. Our already elite kick coverage units should be bolstered by the new additions and the kick return game just received some much needed blocking and a man to run through the holes created.  

They added two NFL tested D players with potential and upgraded the LB's run D while doing so. Let us not forget the addition of Campbell, too. The trickle down effect in attitude and expectations between Russell being the highest paid QB and Campbell, is almost as big as Russell himself. 

This is the kind of off-season that a team starts to build an identity around. The kind of off-season this team needed to right their sinking ship. The kind of off-season that looks to change this from a group of aimless pirates to a band of powerful Raiders!  

Now to summarize the difference in pictures:

Let's look at the last few years' booty (with a little vision of what could've been this year) compared to this year's actual booty.

Previous year's booty and what could've been:

This year's booty: