From the Sidelines

With all due respect to McClain, Houston and our other 1st year players... I am very curious about our two drafted rookie linemen.

I don't know what goes on in the minds of coaches, but with the likes of Sateele and Morris as our centers.... we have a lack of talent. Perhaps coaches Cable, Jackson and Michalczik share that opinion as they have rookie Veldheer quickly coming up to speed at center.

I think most Raider fans agree that center - the important line-calling and play anchoring spot - is a negative right now. Maybe Veldheer isnt the prototype center build (6'8" and 315 pounds of muscle), but if we're in the process of converting him to center, that should indicate that the coaches believe he has more upside than Satele and Morris.

Jared,the Division II All-American has a history of stepping up. From his seven inches of height added during high school, to being overlooked by college recruiters, to being a standout at Hillsdale College to playing in the Division All Star game in 2009 to imprssing all scouts at the NFL combine. It has been a series of challenges overcome.

Perhaps it comes down to the question of whether a 6'8" 315 strong, lean and fast lineman can match up against the shorter 350 pound monsters that attack the gaps. In the modified(Hue Jackson's power blocking added) ZBS it may work. The coaches must realize that as they have Veldheer queued up. Besides, anyone want to assure me that we're good to go with Satele?

On a related note, in regards to the numerous comments that our OLine is weak... I'd like to offer up a qualification to that. Our OLine is not weak on the left side. Thats my opinion anyway. Mario Henderson and Robert Gallery make our left side solid in pass protection and at least adequate in run blocking. But that is only true if Gallery is there. When Gallery went down last year, Henderson seemed to break down frequently. These two make a good left side.

For those who expect perfection from Mario... remember... we haven't had a solid left tackle since Barry Sims. My opinion is that Henderson and the left side will be solid if Gallery stays healthy.

Center, as I mentioned is weak. But the right side was horrid last year. No question Langston Walker is an improvement over Green. And if Cooper Carlisle can rebound from a down year, great.

But please tell me Bruce Campbell will get a chance to step in if Carlisle falters. Bruce is the workout stud who should be able to dominate once he acclimates to the NFL. He'll get some snaps at guard and tackle in camp. Hopefully he has the mojo to push Carlisle and crack the lineup. But is he too lean to play guard? Maybe. But look at Gallery. He's become a fine OG.

With Veldheer and BCampbell we have a pair of tall muscular young studs. It is a departure from the norm for these two guys to be getting time at center and guard... the positions normally suited for road grading 350 pound tubs o' goo. Or maybe I have it wrong. Perhaps they'll both toil as backups at tackle, their college positions? With Barnes and pears it seems that we have our backups at tackle. No matter what, summer camp and the exhibition games will be very interesting this year.


Barry Sims(1998-2008), the Raiders' last solid left tackle.

Longtime Raider observer Ron Macom files the following observation:

From JollyRoger:
By the time DHB was picked, the Raiders already pretty much knew what they had on their hands with JRuss. I'm sure they had gotten pretty tired of his attitude. I'm also sure they were looking at the distinct possibility/reality of his eventual release.

WR was a big need in the 2009 draft. The guy most of us thought the Raiders should have drafted was Michael Crabtree. When we took DHB, most everybody figured it was because DHB was blazing fast, and Crabs was thought to be not so fast.

Well... I say, not so fast... When the teams started bringing players in for visits prior to that draft, reports began coming out that Crabtree was a primadonna who traveling to these teams with a huge entourage. In fact, I read one report that stated the Raiders had been turned off because of this. That he was a very odd duck. And lo and behold... Crabtree had a long holdout... even threatened the Niners with sitting out the entire 2009 season

You know Al was watching...

Regardless of your feelings on whether DHB and the other 2009 Raiders draftees were worthy, they all did possess one thing... strong character traits. Fast forward to this draft... and the high character trend continues.

When your talking about the massive financial investment involved, the debacle that Russell was, may have a had a huge effect on how Al views his draft choices.

From that perspective, there may be something golden taken from the horrible choice of JaMarcus Russell afterall.

Vote on this poll (click)

Originally Posted by Quartermaster

OK, Hypothetically, let's say the Raiders' defense faced the Raiders' Offense and vice versa. I'm sure eventually the offense would put more points on the board. They had better!

If you look at 2009, I think everyone would agree that the defense player better than the offense. Kudos to John Marshall and the defense. On top of that, 6 of 9 draft picks were defensive players - including rounds 1 and 2.

But offense might have jumped ahead of the food chain simply by trading for Jason Campbell - a proven starter who has improved each and every year. And when you remove the giant clog from the latreen, the offense will move fluidly and work as expected. But Hue Jackson might be the biggest single improvement in the offense - because: (1) We needed a dedicated OC who knows what he is doing (2) Jackson seems to have the right stuff to will our young players into achieving better results.

So who will have the best team? John Mashall or Hue Jackson? Or maybe John Fassell will take an average-at-best special teams and make them stars?