Raiders second OTA: Standouts and sit-outs

It was time for round two of Raiders offseason OTA's. Time to see if anyone has progressed or if those who shined before can do it again. It also seemed to be a who's who of who's not practicing which is reminiscent of last year's training camp. The good news is that most of those not practicing were only out for precautionary measures.

It was the return of Rolando McClain and the anticipation of what he would have to say about his legal situation was thick. There was more thick stuff to tread through when he took no questions and gave only a statement.

But there was still a practice to watch and players to evaluate. A reminder that there is no contact. The new schemes have kinks still to work out and what we see now is only a small portion of what we will see by the time training camp rolls around so not a lot can be judged from a defensive standpoint.

Sit-outs

Those who were here and not practicing for the second straight week were wide receivers Louis Murphy and Eddie McGee who both have little nagging hamstring issues. Stefen Wisniewski was out again as well along with Matt Shaughnessy. Both of them had shoulder injuries from last season.

Joining the present-but-injured list was WR Denarius Moore, LB Aaron Curry, and OL Zach Hurd. Tommy Kelly was not at practice with what Dennis Allen referred to as personal issues.

Not present at practice again this week was Mike Mitchell, who is rehabbing a knee injury, along with Sebastian Janikowski, Shane Lechler, and Richard Seymour. They are all simply vets who the team has excused from these OTA's.

Wide receiver Thomas Mayo left practice last week holding his hamstring. He was back at it this week with no ill effects.

Rolando McClain was out last week dealing with his legal matters that had him in court. He was found guilty by a judge but his lawyer requested a trial by jury which means he is eligible to practice until he is needed back in court.

Standouts

The bright spot this week is David Ausberry. He was Matt Leinart's favorite target and he was hauling in every type of catch thrown his way. Just once, he went out for a Palmer pass and didn't stop on his route in the proper place and Palmer threw it to where he was supposed to have been. But his overall body of work on Tuesday more than made up for the lapse. Read more about Ausberry's day here.

Rod Streater continues his work as a favorite to hang on to a roster spot among the undrafted free agents on this team. He makes some fine catches and if not for a Twitter jynx that caused him to drop a leaping sideline grab, he would have had a near flawless day catching the football.

Newcomer QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero is a decent size at 6-3 but next to a 6-5 Palmer, 6-5 Leinart, and 6-6 Pryor, he looks short. He is also has a thin frame at 214 pounds which has him outweighed by his fellow QB's by between 15 and 20 pounds. That being said, he throws a pretty good ball. Most passes were nice spirals with some velocity on them and I didn't see any passes sail or dive.

Safety Curtis Taylor has looked good in drills overall. He is making a case for a roster spot as a reserve safety and special teams player. The team ran two minute drills at the end of practice and he intercepted Matt Leinart on the final play. Lasting impressions are good.

Standing out in a negative way was Darren McFadden. The team is clearly making efforts to get him in open space in a receiver role. He couldn't track a long sideline pass from Palmer that was placed in stride. He was extremely disappointed in himself after that one. He later let a ball go right through his hands from Terrelle Pryor and dropped another pass from Palmer that was right in his hands.

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