Former Raider Vann McElroy to represent our 1st round pick

[SoCalRaider]

This is outfuckingstanding. Great way to start the offseason... I'm freakin' pumped!!!!! Long Live the Raider Fraternity.......

:beerbang::beerbang::beerbang::beerbang:



Chris Long, DE, Virginia: Vann McElroy
Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU: Joel Segal
Vernon Gholston, DE, Ohio State: Ben Dogra/CAA
Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC: Eugene Parker/Roosevelt Barnes/Paul Lawrence

http://beta.profootballtalk.com/2008/01/16/2008-players-and-agents-list/

[RaiderWilde]

Ah... so i'm guessing you know something cause that means Chris Long is falling to us at 3rd or 4th???

[jatfly]

Maybe Howie and Art already spoke and said we take him if he is there.
I would be thrilled with either him or McFadden.....!!!!!

[Raider Bill]

Son of Howie would be my pick

[Raidermania12]

Son of Howie would be my pick

Maybe this is to signify us going after the kid.

[Raider Nation]

I think it's more to signify the fact that Howie and Vann were teammates and he's trusted by the Long family. Not too much to read into here, if you ask me.

[Swords]

ok Rnat you know the rules. Check out your "posting in football forums handbook"

Chapter 3, sub-link A, 3rd bulleted point clearly states...

Discussions pertaining to any draft hi-jinks should not be justified, explained or rationalized in the off-season.

[massraider]

Vann was the man as a player. IIRC, in his first NFL game, he ruptured Steve Watson's kidney.

Can't go wrong with this kid, or Dorsey.

[Madturk]

Yeah Natty is right. Much ado about nothing. I'm thinking the Long family is secretly hoping he doesn't get picked by Oakland for the obvious reason of being under his father's shadow.

[Raider Bill]

I think it's more to signify the fact that Howie and Vann were teammates and he's trusted by the Long family. Not too much to read into here, if you ask me.

Come on Natty... rampant speculation is so much more fun!

[SoCalRaider]

After watching the standoff between Al and Russell's virgin agents... I think this is a great sign that we'll be negotiating with a trusted and familiar face........

Though I think it's laughable that some of us are still there's a chance that Long lands anywhere but here... Long's the pick and McElroy is cutting the deal. So what's the problem? Bunch of fucking black clouders. Your negativity is sickening.... :rolleyes:

[hawaiianboy]

Does Vann have a kid we can throw back there at safety?.... Loved that dude...


Being a top 5 pick = Pressure

Being a top 5 pick when your old man was a Hall of Fame Player at the same position = A lot of pressure

Being a top 5 pick when your old man was a Hall of Fame Player at the same position with the same NFL team you just got drafted by = Holy shit! :huh:

I gotta think that Howie is hoping like hell his boy ends up with Parcells...


Not that it would make a difference, but am I correct in remembering that Howie wasn't exactly an Al Davis fan?...

[Madturk]

I concur but look at the flip side. From a Raider marketing and ticket sales standpoint, it would be a big shot in the arm. Al has a Bones like metamucil induced flashback to 1983. Absolute genius. Then we draft one of the big hogs in round 2.

[Freakshow]

Chris Long in round 1
+
Pat Sims in round 2
=
Way better defense!

BUT...is this better than us going with

Darren McFadden in round 1
+
Malcolm Kelly in round 2
=
Way better offense!

It's a tough call no matter how you slice it.:shakehead:

[007]

Chris Long+ Pat Sims= Bonerific.

Sign me up for Boss Bailey and Bernard Berrian too.

[CrossBones]

BUT...is this better than us going with

Darren McFadden in round 1
+
Malcolm Kelly in round 2
=
Way better offense!

It's a tough call no matter how you slice it.:shakehead:It's an easy answer from the Raiders organization standpoint. Not necessarily my opinion but...

``...we didn't score enough" ~ Al Davis

[Jack's sore libido]

Not that it would make a difference, but am I correct in remembering that Howie wasn't exactly an Al Davis fan?...

There is an anecdote in "You're OK, it's just a bruise" about a time in the locker room when Al wanted Howie to play with a gash on his head, or something, but the doctor wouldn't let him out there without properly treating it.

Can't remember if Howie was on Al's side of that or not.

I do remember that Howie was pissed because he played a season at DT but Al had him listed as a DE for the Pro Bowl ballot, which basically cost him a spot in Hawaii because his sack totals as a DT would not stand up to other DEs, but would have been strong enough to get him in at DT.

[Jack's sore libido]

You know, the idea behind this system is that a decent RB who would be a 4.0 ypc guy somewhere else can be a 4.5 guy here.

But then does it follow that a guy like McFadden, who is expected to be a 4.5 ypc guy somewhere else could be a 5.5 guy here?

[BigTron]

Regardless of the system a playmaker is a playmaker. LT would be dangerous no matter what system he is in.

[RaiderWilde]

Chris Long all the way baby...

I want some rampant blood sucking zombie like DE just storming off the middle... Pancaking the fuck out of Left Tackles and absolutely nailing the Quarterback from that blind spot...

While it may be good seeing McFadden move the chains and us get our first downs, I'd rather see Jake Plummer and Philip Rivers get taken off in stretchers of golf buggies cause Howie Jr wasn't in a good mood and had to take out his punishment on some scrub.

[Byron2112]

Does Vann have a kid we can throw back there at safety?.... Loved that dude...


Being a top 5 pick = Pressure

Being a top 5 pick when your old man was a Hall of Fame Player at the same position = A lot of pressure

Being a top 5 pick when your old man was a Hall of Fame Player at the same position with the same NFL team you just got drafted by = Holy shit! :huh:

I gotta think that Howie is hoping like hell his boy ends up with Parcells...


Not that it would make a difference, but am I correct in remembering that Howie wasn't exactly an Al Davis fan?...

These things concern me and make me kinda wary of putting the kid through that kinda pressure... on the other hand Howie just seems like a pretty grounded dude that would raise his kids right... never heard any funky Marinovich psycho stuff comming outta that household so... I dunno... the kid probably has a pretty good support system going for him.

[Jack's sore libido]

Jake Plummer?

[hawaiianboy]

I do remember that Howie was pissed because he played a season at DT but Al had him listed as a DE for the Pro Bowl ballot, which basically cost him a spot in Hawaii because his sack totals as a DT would not stand up to other DEs, but would have been strong enough to get him in at DT.


There was some talk that Al really wanted Howie to put off retiring for a year and help the team get the local fan base back during the first year back in Oakland, was pissed when Howie declined as he already had some TV stuff lined up and stopped talking to Howie... Who knows... Howie did opt with someone else as his HOF presenter....


These things concern me and make me kinda wary of putting the kid through that kinda pressure... on the other hand Howie just seems like a pretty grounded dude that would raise his kids right... never heard any funky Marinovich psycho stuff comming outta that household so... I dunno... the kid probably has a pretty good support system going for him.


Yeah, Chris seems really grounded and I would love to have him, but that's still a lot of weight to carry...

Anybody remember a story about Howie waking up in the middle of the night and filling his swimming pool up because he had a nightmare about one of the boys falling in?... I swear I read it in SI back in the day but I can't find it on line....

A pretty good Howie story and Oklahoma drill article:

The Oklahoma drill, which pits two players in hand-to-hand combat within a confined space, usually demarcated by blocking bags 3 yards apart as a running back tries to sprint through the open space, is a head-bashing, eye-popping, plastic-breaking contact drill that was used to get an early glimpse of what players were made of.

With the Raiders back in the late 1970s and early '80s, it was always the first drill run the first afternoon the veterans were in camp, a moment anticipated by coaches, observers, and helmet repairmen alike.

In those days, rookies reported a week to 10 days before the veterans. When the Raiders' veterans arrived the night before their first practice, they would meet around an enclosed swimming pool at the El Rancho Tropicana, a resort hotel converted into a makeshift training camp in Santa Rosa, Calif., to discuss which rookies looked good. One year the subject was a kid from Villanova named Howie Long.

At the time, no one knew Long would have a Hall of Fame career. Back then, he was just a big rookie from a small school who had been playing like gangbusters against his college contemporaries for more than a week, but now future Hall of Famers Art Shell and Gene Upshaw had arrived, so it was time for the rubber, and a young man's ego, to meet the road.

Long's potential, and fiery personality, were discussed at length that night. The next afternoon, defensive line coach Earl Leggett sauntered up and told Shell he wanted to see what No. 75 had, ``so play it for real." To Shell, that meant play like the final play in the Super Bowl.

When Shell came off the ball that afternoon, he slammed his fists under Long's chin, snapping his head back as if he'd been hit by a Mike Tyson uppercut. Shell's gray helmet went full bore into Long's facemask, driving his hat half off his head. It sounded like a three-car pileup at one end of the practice field. It probably felt the same way to Long, who went backward as if he were on roller skates, pile-driven into the ground. Yet he kept crawling and clawing the air, trying to get to running back Kenny King as he ran by untouched. When Long got up, blood dripped from his cheek as Shell looked at him, while the players whooped and hollered. Long's response?

"Let's do it again!" he said. Such was the level of intensity and training camp contact 25 years ago. Today it's a different story.

The rest of the article here: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2006/07/29/todays_players_dont_know_the_drill/

[Madturk]

Lombardi ran a similar drill call the "nutcracker" where basically the object was to draw blood. "Instant Replay" was a great read back in the day for some of you younger whippersnappers. Good story on Long. Probably a testament to a pretty fugged up childhood.

[raider60]

[QUOTE=hawaiianboy;56172]
Anybody remember a story about Howie waking up in the middle of the night and filling his swimming pool up because he had a nightmare about one of the boys falling in?... I swear I read it in SI back in the day but I can't find it on line....QUOTE]

I remember the article--that particular issue had Howie in uniform on its cover. If I remember correctly there was also a picture of Howie laying on his back with his son--likely Chris--cradled in Howie's hand. The article also said that during the off season Howie had reupholstered his sofa to keep his mind off of football. Here's guessing he doesn't do that anymore--

[Jack's sore libido]

There was some talk that Al really wanted Howie to put off retiring for a year and help the team get the local fan base back during the first year back in Oakland, was pissed when Howie declined as he already had some TV stuff lined up and stopped talking to Howie... Who knows... Howie did opt with someone else as his HOF presenter....

I don't know if there was any hard feelings between the two over it, but I heard Howie retell the story on TV and he sounded like he wasthisclose to actually being talked into coming back for a year as a situational pass rusher. He laughed and said, "Al had me thinking, 'Maybe I can do this.' Then I thought, 'Wait, I'm 40. There's no way I can do this.'"

[Byron2112]

I think that was on the America's Game episode for SuperBowl XVIII. He said AL was telling him how no HOFer had ever come back to play, and they'd make history.

[Jack's sore libido]

Yeah, that was it

[RaiderWilde]

Jake Plummer?


Meant Jay Cutler...

my bad