MVN - Most Valuable Network

Raiders Not Interested In McFadden?

Hashmarks of ESPN.com had a very interesting discussion with Raiders coach Lane Kiffin. Three items were of note.

The first was this quote:

“[McFadden] is a phenomenal player. … But we really don’t have a big need at running back.”

Hmm. Many people, including me, predicted that the Raiders will take McFadden, an outstanding talent, at number four. However, Kiffen completely throws that out.

Even though on paper Oakland appears to have a surplus of backs with Justin Fargas, Dominic Rhodes, Michael Bush, and LaMont Jordan, they still have questions at the position. Therefore, the predictions about McFadden were made.

Its very possible that Kiffen is either lying, which he has in the past, or isn’t the man who’ll make the decision, and that owner Al Davis is. Kiffen and Davis have reportedly disagreed on many issues, and this could be one of them. Davis could very well be eying the incredible talent of McFadden, and want to take him at number four, as he should be there.

Kiffen thinks that the defensive line is the weakness of his team, and that they’ll probably address that with their first pick. At least one of Glenn Dorsey, Sedrick Ellis, or Vernon Gholston will be available when Oakland picks, and if Kiffen gets his way, which is unlikely if Davis doesn’t agree with him, than the Raiders will select one of them.

Kiffen also says that they are looking at trading down, as after the first round, they don’t have a pick until round number six. It may be wise for them to trade down to the middle of the draft, giving a pick to a team wanting McFadden, one of those above-mentioned defensive linemen, or Matt Ryan if he’s still there.

Kiffen disputes the report that quarterback JaMarcus Russell is up to three hundred pounds. While he didn’t say his exact weight, he hinted that its around two hundred seventy-five pounds, possible a little above or below.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 6:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. 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.