April 20, 2008
Kawakami's logic flawed in predicting Darren McFadden as the Raiders' draft pick
Once again Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News skirts the territory of Oakland Raider nonsense, without diving into the full blown haterdom of our favorites Lowell Cohn or Nancy Gay. Unlike the other two, he takes shots at the Raiders' cross bay foes the San Francisco 49ers. Considering his prediction for the 'Niners top pick matches my mock draft and the fact that I don't care if he takes shots at the red and gold, I'll give him a pass on that one.
Kawakami asserts that Al Davis will pick McFadden because:
Al Davis likes stars and headlines. McFadden is the most obvious star in this draft, with the Raiders sitting very high in the draft ladder. Easy pick!
The problem with this statement is that it does not bear resemblance to the Raiders drafts of the past several years.
2007:
Sexy picks: JaMarcus Russell QB, Calvin Johnson WR, Adrian Peterson RB
Raider Pick: Russell- The Raiders needed a QB of the future, and Russell had measurables that were off the charts.
2006:
Sexy picks: Jay Cutler QB, Matt Linhert QB
Raider pick: Michael Huff S
2005:
This year Al did make a high risk move by trading the #7 pick for an alleged WR from Minnesota. Al then traded back into the first and picked CB Fabian Washington
2004:
Sexy picks: Larry Fitzgerald WR, Sean Taylor S, Phillip Rivers QB, KEllen Winslow TE
Raiders pick: Robert Gallery OT- Can you get a more "safe" pick than an offensive lineman?
2003:
The Raiders had the #31 & #32 picks in the draft and got CB Nnamdi Asomugha and DE Tyler Brayton. There isn't going to be a glamor pick available at that point.
2002:
The Raiders had the #17 and #23 picks and acquired CB Phillip Buchannon and LB Napolean Harris. Not picked were Flashy WRs Javon Walker or Ashle Lelee.
2001:
The Raiders passed up WR Reggie Wayne to draft S Derrick Gibson. Wayne would have been a much flashier pick.
2000:
The Raiders drafted KICKER Sebastian Janikowski with the 17th pick in the draft. There is nothing flashy about drafting a kicker. Sea-Bass was a pick based on the fact that the atrocious kicking game in 99 cost the Raiders a bundle of games.
Sorry Tim, I don't see where the tea leaves from these past picks point to McFadden.
Continuing his path down the low road he regurgitates Don Banks's garbage from the other day:
It would be a warmer story if Davis selected Virginia defensive lineman Chris Long, son of Raiders Hall of Famer Howie Long. But Al isn't necessarily a warm-story guy and Howie didn't leave the franchise with Al's deepest affection.
Interesting, a Sports Illustrated hack spits up some heretofore unheard common knowledge rumor, and now a local scribe follows along like he has been in on the secret the whole time. I would think that if this was a common knowledge rumor as its being portrayed it would have been discussed MUCH earlier in the process.
Sorry Tim, this dog won't hunt.
Discussion
15 Comments on "Kawakami's logic flawed in predicting Darren McFadden as the Raiders' draft pick"
#1
Posted by Kawakami's logic flawed - Oakland Raiders Forum | Message Board - Where the Raider Nation lives!, April 20, 2008 3:11 PM
[...] logic flawed Thoughts from the Dark Side | MVN - an Oakland Raiders blog ª Blog Archive ª Kawakami’s logic ... __________________ "While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a [...]
#2
Posted by LDizzle, April 20, 2008 3:37 PM
"aleged WR from Minnesota" Haha! awesome.
I love it when writers try to make everything so simple like "he loves headlines" or " he is in love with speed". As if no team or owner ever breaks from his publicly perceived personality.
If it were that simple then Kiper would have gotten more than 3 picks right from last years draft.
#3
Posted by Thoughts from the Dark Side: Kawakami‚Äôs logic flawed in predicting Darren McFadden as the Raiders‚, April 20, 2008 4:23 PM
[...] Read more. Posted in Blog, Draft, Oakland Raiders | [...]
#4
Posted by MartinTheMerciless, April 20, 2008 6:59 PM
Check out Nancy Gay's article on SFGate 2day:
Buzz up!NFL DRAFT PREVIEW
HIGH COST OF LOSING
Teams are faced with paying top dollar for unproven picks
Nancy Gay
Sunday, April 20, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/19/SP78107S44.DTL
In the past month, I posted two articles on this site.
Mike Sando from ESPN
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft08/columns/story?columnist=sando_mike&id=3267103
Mike Lombardi from SI. Lombardi was the GM for the Raiders last year.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/04/09/mike.lombardi/
All. I repeat all, the information in the article was copied from these two articles.
So. When she's not busy making up BS about the Raiders, she rips off fellow journalists for stories. She does not attribute Mike Sando at all. She writes like she personally interviews Pollian herself. She does attribute Lombardi, but not as a writer for SI, but as a former Raider GM like it is a personal interview. I believe that is called:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
Patrick. I'm not sure what to do with this. It is A/ wrong. B/ immoral. C/ Probably illegal. Can you believe she is an NFL Hall of Fame voter?
http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/selectionprocess.html
What a C*NT!
#5
Posted by PercEpTivE, April 20, 2008 7:59 PM
Nice job double P, keep exposing the hacks that aren't doing their job. The Nation needs your platform... you're gaining momentum.
Raiders go for D-Line. Go Raiders
#6
Posted by pat, April 20, 2008 8:11 PM
If we can stop the run we can win. If we cant then we dont that simple. How many playoff teams do u see that cant stop the run, maybe not the pass but they allways allways allways stop the run.
GO RAIDERS!!!
#7
Posted by Spencer Mills, April 20, 2008 9:36 PM
There are several reasonable reasons why many including myself think Al will pick McFadden, and this is not one of them. It would be kind of a bonus though as its pretty hard to ignore the Raiders taking the best skill player in the draft.
Al's Mandate is McFadden!
#8
Posted by Rebel2124, April 21, 2008 7:54 AM
Honestly, people in the Raiders organization don't know what Al will do until Al does it. His shroud of secrecy has become legend. So all this speculation is just, whats that word? Ahh, speculation! Kiper, Gay, this Kawablah blah blah guy, me, you - we all do it for the sake of conversation because we get excited about the draft and what our team may do. It's all good no matter how our opinions may differ. I'll certainly be one of many laughing and pointing my finger at everybody who was wrong.
Until then, that mandate yall found was written by the Chiefs. Hahahaaa!!!
#9
Posted by Matt, April 21, 2008 10:37 AM
i think the strongest suggestion that davis wont take mcfadden is he never takes running backs first round as shown above there are no running backs in the past 8 years and im not sure what the exact number is but i think i read somewhere that davis has only taken 2 running backs in the first round
#10
Posted by Rob Calonge, April 21, 2008 11:49 AM
Martin,
I'm not sure what good it will do, but what you could do is send a letter with the links to her editor, ESPN.com's editor, and CNNSI's editor as well as to the authors of those stories. Make sure the letter is well written and professional as well (you don't want to sound like you've got an axe to grind with her). I recommend sending a mass email so that they ALL get it at the same time.
While you're at it, send it to the competitors editors of the Chronicle. Put it on every message board that you visit also, you never know...you may actually see a story written about it. Hmmmm...
#11
Posted by O, April 21, 2008 10:23 PM
Ok enough said to be honest finally someone has actually truely understand the Raiders selections the past years that are about needs not a sexy or headline pick. As in this nature Gholston or Dorsey would be perfect in # 4 selection for the Raiders if Chris Long is not available. Each of them will make an enormous impact to the Raiders Pass Rush that really needs improvement more than a running game that is almost perfect though about to improve with the addition of star running no not Mc Fadden. Michael Bush, who in college had better stats then McFadden anyway and hello Davis is truly in love with him as well. And yes Bush had an injury but so did Adrian Peterson in college. And yes of course Al Davis will pass on McFadden he has character issues look on ESPN they had to do a whole story if or not he maybe the next trouble maker in the NFL. This all media picking up the most talented player is McFadden is only ball carrier with top ten talents, and a bad boy that’s why the media sells us on McFadden going to the Raiders and they cannot get out of their heads that Davis only selects bad character best available picks and how great he is especially Mel Kiper that have nothing to do with the Raiders needs.
#12
Posted by Rebel2124, April 22, 2008 6:15 AM
My question is, how in the hell did Mel Kiper get his job and who in the hell actually listens to him? He always seems to be wrong.
#13
Posted by H-Rap II, April 22, 2008 7:27 PM
Finally; a voice with reason. Simply put, the RAIDERS need to protect last years investment (Offensive Line) and then get wsome run stoppers and pass rushers. I mean, come on guys; Hell Stevie Wonder can make this Call!! Mel Kiper is a typical example of some of the problems we face in this country; and that is people getting paid no matter how incompetent they are!!
#14
Posted by NateDawg151, April 22, 2008 7:40 PM
I actauly am one of the ones out there that think we should pick D-Mac. Not cause we need him, more cause we can trade him, and if we cant trade him we can get rid of the lack luster Lamont Jordan and Rhodes. Then we would have fargas for 2 more years, Bush who i belive will be a top calibur running back in the league then D-Mac. Or we could even just swoop up on D-Mac and trade him, cause you know there will be 15 teams out there trying to get him. Take the best player in the draft and use him for some bait. Maybe even pick up Roy Williams or Chad Johnson, cause both of there teams need running back and CB's which we have 2 that are just dieing to be traded
#15
Posted by O, April 22, 2008 10:04 PM
Why would you choose McFadden trade him and waste a valuable 4th pick as trade bait Look if you just want to trade the 4th pick for additional picks let others team fight over McFadden. Your dreaming if you think the Raiders are just going to choose a star RB and make Bush and Fargus back-ups. Yes they are many trade possibilities and one of them would be getting one of the two RB you mentioned and Fabian Washington though that would possible to a team like Jacksonville that has a lot of selection and could afford providing the Raiders with a 3rd round pick and a late 5th round selection. Giving the Raiders to additional picks. They need a star defensive lineman and Long, Gholston or Dorsey will be the 4th overall pick not a position they may already have or trade a pick for star receiver with issues.
Top Destinations
Recent Posts
- Oakland Raiders beyond woeful in loss to the Kansas City Chiefs
- Raiders have nobody to blame but their coach and quarterback
- TFDS Live Game Blog - Chiefs at Raiders
- Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland Raiders: TFDS Keys to the Game
- TFDS Predicts: Oakland Raiders to dispatch the Kansas City Chiefs
- Kiffin a 'volunteer' in Tennessee?
More raiders Posts
Division Rivals
Regional Teams
Leave a comment