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Random Thoughts from the Dark Side on the Oakland Raiders offseason thus far

By Patrick Patterson | March 19th, 2008

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The Raiders have gone out an made a plethora of moves to improve their team. They have attacked the free agent market hauling in Gibril Wilson, Javon Walker, Kwame Harris, William Joseph, and Drew Carter. They have locked up a couple of their own free agents in Nnamdi Asomugha, Justin Fargas, and Tommy Kelly. Al Davis even consummated a trade to acquire DeAngelo Hall. Despite all of these moves there are still issues for the Raiders to address if they want to return to contention.

* This offseason has been a better Soap Opera than anything on TV. If Al Davis wants a new revenue stream, he should allow them to make a Reality TV show based on the Raiders.

* Al Davis has been spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave, hopefully he gets more the just screwed blued and tattooed to show for it.

* Forget winning the lottery, the real money is in playing in the Raiders defensive backfield this year. Nnamdi Asomugha $10m franchise tender, Gibril Wilson 6 year $39m, Michael Huff 6 year $43m, and DeAngelo Hall 7 year $70m. Once upon a time there was the “Million Dollar Backfield.” Maybe this should be called the”Billion Dollar Backfield.”

* The reason the Raiders “overpaid” is because these guys found out how much it cost to fill their SUVs in the Bay Area.

* I wonder if I am the only one starting to get nervous about Bary Sims getting cut without a move made for a replacement.

* Jerry Porter is still gone.

* The trio of Drew Carter, Javon Walker, and Ronald Curry should provide some really good targets for JaMarcus Russell.

* Wake me up when draft day gets here.

* At least no one has resurrected the Lane Kiffin is out rumors for at least a week or two.

* JaMarcus Russell has been working out at Raider HQ, and isn’t pushing three bills.

* I screwed up on a rumor the other day. Oh well, one a year, I guess. It wasn’t long ago that Nancy Gay was saying that Warren Sapp would be cut because of his age. In January of 2007, ESPN reported that James Lofton was hired to be the Head Coach before Kiffin was brought on board. In 2000 CNN called Florida first for Al Gore, then for George W Bush, before finally admitting that they had no clue who really won it. In 1948 a Chicago Newspaper reported that Dewey Defeated Truman. I still felt bad for screwing up.

* Dominic Rhodes, Justin Fargas, and Michael Bush are ready to go, I don’t see the obsession with McFadden.

* Just because I haven’t said it in a day or two, “The Raider NEED to address their defensive line!”

* What worries me is that I am not sure there is a left tackle on the roster who is better than Barry Sims.

* I would not cry if the Raiders grabbed Jake Long.

* I sure hope that the Raiders’ brain trust doesn’t think that Kwame Harris and William Joseph are the answers to the problems in the trenches.

* I hope the Raiders pick up more first day picks, the party at Ricky’s is going to be short if they only have that one. If you are going to be at the Ricky’s draft party, say hi when you see me.

* If you leave a comment with multiple links, the software catches it as potential spam and I have to fish it out. If you post a comment that doesn’t appear, shoot me an email at mvnraider at yahoo.com and I can fish it out of there for you.

* Thank you to Raider X and L Dizzle for your contributions to this site.

* If you want to contribute a future post contact me at mvnraider at yahoo.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 1:53 am and is filed under 2008 NFL Draft, 2008 Raiders Offseason, Raider Nation, Free Agent Rumors, Free agent signings, Raiders History, Transactions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Random Thoughts from the Dark Side on the Oakland Raiders offseason thus far”

Random Thoughts from the Dark Side on the offseason thus far - Oakland Raiders Forum | Message Board - Where the Raider Nation lives! says:

March 19th, 2008 at 1:58 am

[…] Thoughts from the Dark Side on the offseason thus far Thoughts from the Dark Side | MVN - Most Valuable Network � Blog Archive � Random Thoughts from the … __________________ "While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a […]
john mosley says:

March 19th, 2008 at 7:05 am

patrick,this team is taking shape,dont fret,there will be cap casulties to get the players we need on both sides of the line,i still think al will take jake long at #4,and if hes gone then he trades with dallas so they can take mccfadden,the raiders get both dallas’s first rounders and a third rounder,then he pulls off another fleece,fabian washington,pack your stuff youve been traded to,well you fill in the blank,for a second or third rounder and we are right back in the draft and the party at ricky’s will go on as scheduled so have a birthday shooter for me a couple days early while im still freezin my arse off in south fricken dakota,lol. as for the money the raiders have already spent in free agency,my opinion is,you never really know what you can do until you try and it’s much better to give your all and fail than to not give it your absolute best effort and always wonder if it would have worked if you’d have just tried.
curiousgIII says:

March 19th, 2008 at 11:48 am

Take a read at what the Washington fan had to say about AL:

http://mvn.com/outsider/2008/0.....mment-1790
raiderdave says:

March 19th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

I agree with john, expect some trades….jordan, fabian…for draft picks…remember Marion Henderson will be better..And I’m optimistic about Harris
john mosley says:

March 19th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

to curious gill,that idiot you responded to is just another prostitute,oops i mean hack sports writer sittin at his desk with nothing to write about who probably couldnt name 10 players on the raiders team if you held a gun to his head,the salary cap number this guy pulled out of his a$$ came straight out of espn by john clayton so that tells you that this moron did his research by watching sports center,nice job greg,you should have listened to your mom when she said better to be silent and thought of as a fool than write some article like this and remove all doubt.i mean just how does this guy know how much money al davis has hocked away or where its at? any way thanks for the link it’s been a tough day and i needed a little humor,and i didnt respond to him you pretty much said all there was to say and since your the only response till now that tells you how popular this guys articles are.
Brian says:

March 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

Yeah, that’s a ton on $$$ for a defensive backfield but a talented one at that. I’m hoping for some trades for picks to allow us to add depth at WR, DL & OL. Trade away Jordan, Fabian & Sweigart for those picks. If either Long is gone at #4, trade down w/ Dallas. We are on our way as long as we do not lose Asomu due to salary casualties.
raidz says:

March 19th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Ya that’s going to definately be the most lethal defensive backfield in the NFL, and the most expensive.
LDizzle says:

March 19th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

Patrick I am right there with you on the worries my man. We seem to have the exact same concerns and cautious optimism. I like the way you put this article together. Like it was hundreds of different thoughts going through your head keeping you up at night and so you just wrote out a stream of conciousness. By this time tomorrow the Hall situation will be clear. I expect you will be all over it.
OakFoSho says:

March 20th, 2008 at 2:30 am

Raider Nation!

For those younger members of the Raider Nation like myself (is 25 young?) interested in a little piece of Raider history, and the old guys who want to feel a little nostalgic, check out this video on Ted Hendricks. Hilarious, yet insightful!

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d8008cd28

The draft can’t get here fast enough…..

Al’s Mandate is McFadden!

OakFoSho
Dan says:

March 20th, 2008 at 11:15 am

I like the article, and truthfully we have overspent for what we have, but it has to be better than last year. Al is spending like we are a heading to a superbowl and anything can happen in the NFL. I don’t think Al would spend this kind of money to give this job to anyone who has “no” head coaching experience(James Lofton). He had to have seen the improvement this year and is spending the money to find out if Kiffin is the future of the Raiders. Al knows he doesn’t have much time left and wants to win one more before he retires.
I, myself have talked Al’s demise, but after pondering the movement he has made I feel he is set to make one more run at it and I think he believes Kiffin is his shot.
nilbymouth says:

March 20th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

I really like the moves we have made. Sure we may have overspent on some players but like I have read from numerous people alot of these contracts aint as bad as what they seem as the players can be cut/reconstructed in a couple years and not have too many salary cap effects. And about the only player I have we have lost that has been worth mush to us is Chris Clemmons. All the other moves we have made have been upgrades to the starters or good added depth.

I still think we wont be drafting McFadden and Davis has some deal going with another team for a draft day trade (most probably the Cowboys). I think the only reason it hasn’t been completed yet may be because Davis wants to wait just incase Long slips down to us at four.
LDizzle says:

March 21st, 2008 at 11:50 am

Anyone see Pat Yasinskas’ laughably stupid ESPN.com article titled “Raider Evacuation?” Here is the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/.....id=3304812

And my response was this:

All the Raiders additions have been on offense except Javon Walker and re-signing Fargas? Really? So what are OT Kwame Harris, WR Drew Carter and OT Cornell Green? Are they on Special teams?
So let’s see here:
Hall, Kelly, Wilson, and Joseph= FOUR defensive players signed.
While Walker, Fargas, Harris, Carter, Green = FIVE signings on offense.
You sir are an idiot.
If you are going to try and stir up controversy, at least get your facts right.