Raiders, Panthers to face former teammates from offseason trades

The Raiders and Panthers made two deals this off season. The first deal had the Raiders sending former fourth round pick offensive lineman Bruce Campbell to Carolina for Mike Goodson.

The deal was one that was seen as a good one for both teams. Campbell was a forgotten man in Oakland. He had been inactive for all but four games in 2011. Goodson was buried on the depth chart behind star running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

Panthers blogger, James Dator of Cat Scratch Reader agreed that the trade was good for both teams.

"I think it was mutually beneficial," said Dator. "Goodson is a very talented running back, but he fumbles far too often for Ron Rivera to be okay with that. Pair that with Carolina signing Mike Tolbert, and there was simply no room here. Bruce Campbell looked stunning in training camp and preseason, and the Panthers are convinced he'll be a left tackle -- sitting behind Jordan Gross hasn't afforded him many chances, but they think he can be a depth player... Ultimately I feel The Goodson/Campbell swap was even."

It would seem Dator is dat-ing his analysis when saying that Goodson "fumbles far too often". He has not had those issues in Oakland. All the while, from the sounds of it, Campbell is in the same situation in Carolina as he was in Oakland - riding the pine.

Now the Raiders have a running back in Goodson who is averaging 6.7 yards per carry with 387 yards from scrimmage and...wait for it... ZERO fumbles. He is the first back off the bench behind Darren McFadden. Compare this to Campbell who doesn't see the field and, just like in Oakland, has been inactive for all but four games this season. That is by no means an "even" trade from where I sit. But who knows what the future holds.

The Panthers trading Goodson fell into the same exact situation for the Panthers as trading Louis Murphy did for the Raiders.

"We had too many running backs," Rivera said during a conference call with the media earlier this week. "Rather than release a guy outright, we tried to get something for him. We have always liked Mike."

The difference with the Raiders sending Murphy to Carolina was it was not for a player but rather a conditional round seven pick. The deal was very beneficial for the Panthers. If Murphy didn't make their squad, they would pay nothing. He did make the team and it only cost them a round seven pick.

"As for Louis Murphy, it's a mixed bag," Dator continued. "He hasn't had to kind of impact many of us thought he would, but for a 7th round pick it was a low cost... but the Raiders got the better end of Murphy for a 7th -- only because I think your team would have cut him anyway."

The Raiders may or may not have ultimately cut ties with Murphy had they not found a trade partner. The emergence of Rod Streater is what made Murphy expendable. Suddenly the Raiders had more receivers than they knew what to do with. But then Jacoby Ford went down for the season and the team brought in Derek Hagan. Had they not traded Murphy, they would have not needed to sign Hagan.

So, in this case, it was the Panthers who indeed got the better of the deal. Expecting a big impact from a guy you got with a seventh round pick is too high of expectations. And with every receiver in Carolina struggling this season, including Steve Smith, I would venture to say it is not the receivers that are the problem but rather the man throwing the ball - Cam Newton.

Murphy was a popular player in Oakland. As soon as the Raiders touched down in Carolina, Murphy was tweeting Mike Mitchell asking where he was. Those two had some epic camp squabbles as they were the two most passionate players on the field and the barking got pretty loud. They were rookies together in Oakland and Murphy, being a Florida Gator, liked to give Mitchell crap about his coming out of Ohio and Mitchell took exception to it. Mitchell was chosen in round two and Murphy in round five which I'm sure burnt Murphy a bit. But out of that a couple of good friends with a lot of mutual respect was spawned.

They already got together to catch up as I am sure Goodson got together with some of his former teammates as well. We'll see if any of them can succeed in proving who got the better of the deals which had them switching NFL cities.

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