MVN: Most Valuable Network

A litany of errors have haunted the Raiders since Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay in 2003.  There's not enough space on the internet to do every one of them justice.  However, I selected Davis' ten most costly mistakes, and chronicled them in this top-ten list.  Some of these reasons only look bad in hindsight.  Most were horrible decisions at the time they were made.  All had a crucial role in ruining the winningest NFL franchise since the merger.

Tomorrow, I'll reveal my plan for fixing the Oakland Raiders.

Top Ten Most Costly Errors by the Raiders (2002-2008)

10.  February 10, 2006 -- Art Shell re-hired as Head Coach
This one didn't make a lot of sense at the time.  Shell had already been fired by Davis once.  The Raiders had fired Norv Turner after two seasons, when he couldn't turn Davis' first few errors/blown draft picks into a group of winners.  Now, Norv Turner (at the time) didn't exactly have the track record to do that, but Davis did hire Turner, so apparently at some point he was confident in his abilities (see: Kiffin, Lane).  Shell was the exception though.  Davis never really had confidence in his abilities.  He fired Shell just 12 years before.  2006 was supposed to be the culmination of the "re-building project" the Raiders had been "working on" over the last three seasons since the team had last played in a super bowl.  Shell was a disciplinarian who was going to fix the OL and allow the Raiders to have a top running game.

Despite having the third ranked defense that season, Shell presided over one of the very worst "efforts" by an offensive line in recent memory, and the Raiders won 2 games.  He did not last a calendar year in his second stint with the Raiders.

9.  February 23, 2005 -- Raiders re-sign WR Jerry Porter for $4 millon per season
This one didn't 'cost' the Raiders as much as it was our first glimpse that the brain trust may not know what they are doing.  Jerry Porter was, at the time, the best receiver on the team, but he's never been the kind of guy who can separate from coverage, and you can find at least three of these guys on every NFL team.  Porter was a revelation as a third option for Rich Gannon in 2002 playing in the slot with Jerry Rice and Tim Brown on the outside, but after 2003 when Rice and Brown both moved on, Porter was inadequate as a No. 1 target.  In 2004, he was overshadowed by 2002 7th round pick Ronald Curry (who is still on the team), but Porter, always the more brash of the two was the one who got paid in 2005.  This also, according to most pundits at the time, took the Raiders out of the running for explosive WR Randy Moss.  Of course, this is a top ten list, so let's keep that one quiet for now.

Porter has been an absolute non factor since he signed this deal, save for one or two nice games in 2005.  The Jaguars rewarded this effort with another large speculative deal for Porter in 2008.  Never since has being Rich Gannon's third target earned somebody such an impressive free ride.

8.  Summer 2008 -- Raiders place Franchise Tag on CB Nnamdi Asomugha, but fail to sign him to multi year contract
The Raiders spent a lot of money on players in free agency in 2008, but apparently, they couldn't find any cash to pay the one guy on the roster who deserves a new deal and a few medals for his efforts.  This is the most recent move on the entire top ten list.  Asomugha, widely regarded as the best corner in the NFL, has yet to play on a team that has won more than 5 games in a season, and is watching his best and most effective years wasted on a roster that's more committed to doing it Al's way than committed to excellence.  Nnamdi has never publicly complained about the organization, but he's clearly frustrated that he won't be able to play elsewhere, but that the Raiders can't seem to commit to their franchise player financially.  The Raiders, true to form, plan on extending the madness between the past and future by tagging Asomugha once again this offseason, which will cost them $13 million for 2009.

If the Raiders are truly committed to getting this ship righted, they'll either allow Nnamdi to walk via transition tag, or agree to pay him to be a Raider for life.  If Nnamdi heads into 2009 under the prison that is the franchise tag, you can be pretty convinced that the Raiders are just going to putter around for a few more years between 3 and 6 wins until Al passes.

7.  April 28, 2006 -- Raiders pass on QBs Jay Cutler, Matt Leinart, draft Texas S Michael Huff
Nothing says futility quite like the Raiders' first round track record in the draft over the last five years.  Every draft between 2004 and 2007 will be properly represented on this list, and out of the four of them, I find this 2006 pick to be the least offensive.  In hindsight, Michael Huff is dangerously close to being a bust.  But that's totally besides the point.  The point is that the Raiders had a roster at the Quarterback position of Aaron Brooks, and 2005 3rd round pick Andrew Walter...and their number one target in the draft was reportedly Texas' QB Vince Young.  Even though the Titans saved the Raiders from this fate, apparently the Raiders decided that what they already had at the QB position was better than Cutler or Leinart, who were both very fundamentally sound prospects.  The jury is still out on Leinart, but no matter what you think of him, you have to think he's a better QB than either Andrew Walter or Aaron Brooks.  Jay Cutler would go 4 picks later to the Denver Broncos, and only 3 years into his career, Cutler has already beaten the Raiders twice, and that number could be in the double digits by the time he retires.

6. April 29, 2007 -- Raiders trade WR Randy Moss to New England Patriots for 4th round pick
Perhaps no owner has mastered the "buy high, sell low" strategy quite like Al Davis has.  Look, the 2007 Raiders had no real purpose for Randy Moss, but the Raiders simply bit hard on a lowball offer from the Patriots who less than two months prior dealt a second round pick to the Miami Dolphins for largely unproven WR Wes Welker.  Do we not think that Moss would have gotten at least a second round pick from someone?  Rather than work proactively, Davis waited until draft day two, and then took the best remaining offer on the table when it was starting to make sense to hold on to Moss.

Moss set the single season record for receiving touchdowns eight months later, but I mean, who's counting?

5.  September 30, 2008 -- Raiders fire head coach Lane Kiffin
I'm really not sure what this says about Davis.  Perhaps he doesn't understand the difference between relative success and failure.  Perhaps he does understand, but he's more concerned about his "way".  Maybe he was convinced that the 2008 Raiders were destined for greatness, but were held back by Kiffin.  Ultimately though, what's clear is that Kiffin has been right on most accounts, Davis has been wrong, and Kiffin's way would have led the team closer to respectability than Davis' way.  Either way, the head coach still has to be responsible enough to get along with the owner, and clearly Davis felt threatened by Kiffin.  This wasn't necessarily a wrong decision by Davis, but it was one that hurt the Raiders, so that's a pretty good indicator that it wasn't the right call. 

But hey, the Raiders' charitableness in passing up so many victories in the last six years has really opened up a lot of opportunities for other teams to get it turned around, so it's not all bad.  Kiffin was an arrogant jerk to the rest of the NFL when he flat out stole 5 wins from the "zero-sum" NFL total wins, and Davis as the good citizen he is, did his duty to make sure the 2008 Raiders would not be a threat to the total wins amongst NFL teams that aren't the Raiders.

4. April 23, 2004 -- Raiders pass on QBs Rivers/Roethlisberger, draft OL Robert Gallery
This wasn't some sort of scouting or logical deficiency, as most NFL scouts agreed that Gallery was a surefire prospect at LT.  Eli Manning, the one surefire QB in this draft, went first overall, and then Gallery went second.  Rather, what this shows is how far the Raiders deviated from the original rebuilding plan over the next 4 years.  In 2004, the Raiders decided that they were giving up on Marques Tuiasosopo, and young quarterbacks in general.  They signed Kerry Collins to backup/succeed Rich Gannon at QB, and passed on two prospects at QB that they really liked because they felt the way back to the top was though mauling people on the offensive line and defensive line, and consistent (if unspectacular) play from the Quarterback position.

Boy, don't those concepts sound nice to the Raider Nation right now?

Four years later, Kerry Collins is 8-0 as a starter on a team that mauls people on the offensive and defensive lines, gave a high draft grade to Vince Young, and will likely finish the 2008 season with the top record in the AFC.  It just isn't the Raiders.

3. April 24, 2005 -- Raiders trade 7th overall pick in draft to Vikings for WR Randy Moss
The 2004 Raiders were not a bad team.  They weren't a good team, but they would have contended for the playoffs had Rich Gannon stayed on the field.  Gannon didn't announce his retirement until July of 2005, but all these moves were made with the knowledge that he would not play again for the Raiders.  Two months after foolishly signing Jerry Porter to a long term deal, the Raiders traded LB Napolean Harris (a Callaghan-Allen era first rounder) and the 7th overall pick in the draft to the Vikings for Moss.  The Raiders were banking heavily on a breakout season from players on the OL and DL, and that Moss would put them over the top in the AFC West.  Unfortunately, Al Davis did not look at the quality of the division prior to this, as the three other AFC West teams combined for 33 wins in 2005.  Moss got hurt around midseason, and never played hard for the Raiders again.  The team finished 4-12, but more importantly, gave up the chance to continually build up through the draft in order to take a shot at winning the Championship in 2005. 

2005 has been the Raiders' best season since they traded for Randy Moss, which, sadly, was the goal of the trade. 

From the day this deal was made, the Raiders have the following promising players to show for their drafting prowess: LB Kirk Morrison, LB Thomas Howard, RB Michael Bush, RB Darren McFadden, TE Zach Miller, DE Trevor Scott, DE Jay Richardson.  4 complete drafts.  7 players with a promising future (drafted in 2005 or more recently).  53 rostered players.  12 total wins (57 games).  Nice plan!

2. March 19, 2008 -- Raiders trade for CB DeAngelo Hall
The Raiders had a nice high pick in 2008, so they dealt their well positioned second round pick to the Atlanta Falcons, and then signed Hall to a 6 year deal worth $70 million.  This was incredibly stupid at the time, and at the time it theoretically gave the Raiders a top CB duo in the NFL.  And then came the season.  Turns out, DeAngelo Hall can't actually cover any NFL receiver.  No corner gave up more yards in 8 games than Hall did, and then the Raiders just released him to save further embarrassment.  The total bill to the Raiders ended up being just a sliver over $8 million, a second round draft pick, and two to three losses.  Perhaps not worth the trouble?

Maybe the most damning thing is that this wasn't even the most costly move that Al Davis has made in the last 5 years.

1.  April 28, 2007 -- Raiders draft LSU QB JaMarcus Russell with 1st overall pick
The Raiders could have had ANY player in the 2007 draft to re-build a franchise around.  The Raiders, tend not to divulge any draft information after the fact, historically.  But when Lane Kiffin was fired in September, it came to light that he made a single request to Al Davis prior to the 2007 Draft: Let's not draft JaMarcus Russell.  It's unclear which elite prospect Kiffin personally favored, but if we've learned anything about Lane Kiffin since, it's that he's generally very flexible with his schemes.  Yet, Kiffin did not think he could win with Russell at Quarterback.  Al Davis could care less what Kiffin thought, after all, he's only the head coach -- nothing more.  Perhaps Kiffin wanted Brady Quinn, or Calvin Johnson, or Joe Thomas (the Raiders knew at this point that Robert Gallery would never be their LT).  But the point is this: if the Raiders had heeded Kiffin's warning on Russell, they would have one of these three situations:

1) Brady Quinn throwing to Randy Moss
2) Andrew Walter throwing to Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson
3) Walter protected by Joe Thomas, throwing to Randy Moss.

One day later, Moss was traded for essentially nothing at all, Quinn AND Thomas were teammates on not the Raiders, and Calvin Johnson was Matt Millen's latest fetish.

Russell promptly showed his commitment to excellence by holding out into the 2007 NFL regular season.  Eventually, Russell was coaxed into becoming a Raider by Davis, Kiffin, and $34 million dollars guaranteed (DeAngelo Hall got 8 million, and he's the second biggest mistake of the era). He signed prior to week two, did not play until week sixteen, and started one game as a rookie.

This year, Russell is 2-6 as a starter with a QB rating of 69.0, and since Kiffin was fired, he has posted single game QB ratings of 40.1, 66.2, and 19.0.  Russell's career QB rating of 65.9 trails former Bears bust Cade McNown's career mark of 67.7.  McNown would not throw another pass in the NFL after his second season.

JaMarcus Russell, of course, still has an outside chance of developing into a competent quarterback in a stable offensive situation.  Does that sound like Oakland to you?

More likely, Russell will go down as a bust of Leaf-type proportions.  The only thing that he'll do for the Raiders as long as he starts is cost them games, and it will take an entirely new regime from the top down to say enough is enough, admit a mistake, and move on.  The Raiders will never have another shot at getting Brady Quinn, Joe Thomas, or Calvin Johnson ever again, but thanks to Russell, they'll have another shot at the top of the draft next year.  The only question is: will they pull the trigger on a potential franchise player, or just another player with college star with potential?

For further reading on the crisis concerning the Raiders, visit MVN's Raiders' affiliate site, Thoughts from the Dark Side.