Reporting day notes
For those who just don't do the Twitter thing, here are five things I know after standing outside the Napa Valley Marriott today as the Raiders began reporting for training camp.
No. 1 -- Every rookie draft pick is signed except the biggest one of all: No. 7 overall pick Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Fourth-rounder Louis Murphy signed his Tuesday afternoon at the team facility before zooming up to Napa. Second-rounder Mike Mitchell and third-rounder Matt Shaghnessy signed last week. No idea when fourth-rounder Slade Norris signed, but he's here along with sixth-rounder Brandon Myers.
I wish I could tell you if DHB is close to signing, but no one seems to have any idea. The Raiders won't confirm the signings they've already made, so much discuss the one deal that remains undone.
DHB's agents, Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, aren't talking. Frankly, a deal could have just been done and we won't know it until DHB is seen going to the first mandatory team meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
This will be nothing like JaMarcus Russell's holdout in 2007, if only because the No. 6 and 8 picks are bound to set the salary floor and ceiling soon enough.
The Raiders should hope this is nothing more than the 2006 situation where No. 7 pick Michael Huff missed one practice as the paperwork went to the league office.
Given his injury problems in OTAs, Heyward-Bey already has some catching up to do on the field. A prolonged holdout is going to make it that much more difficult for him to make a first-year impact.
No. 2 -- Jeff Garcia is trying to diffuse any talk of a quarterback controversy, but it isn't exactly working.
One minute, Garcia said, "I'm not coming here trying to stir the pot." The next minute, he said, "I don't believe I'm a backup quarterback by any means."
Eventually, Garcia landed in the middle with, "My job is to make certain decisions hard. JaMarcus' job is to make the decision easy."
Roughly translated, Garcia so wants to stay an NFL starter but, if Russell does his job, Garcia knows he'll have to live with being a bakcup. But if Russell struggles ...
No. 3 -- Fullback Oren O'Neal said he's ready to go one year after a major knee injury. He's running and cutting and expects to practice once a day.
Still, don't be surprised if O'Neal winds up on the Physically Unable to Perform List along with left guard Robert Gallery (appendectomy) and perhaps wide receiver Arman Shields (year-old knee injury).
Lorenzo Neal's arrival takes the hurry out of O'Neal's return.
No. 4 -- Safety Michael Huff is fighting for his NFL life, and he knows it after being considered the hands-down starter for three tough seasons. He's glad to at least be getting another chance to compete for the job with Hiram Eugene.
"I guess every year you're fighting for a job but I guess this year is different, especially the way last year ended. I kind of never know with the uncertainty of being here as far as after training camp," Huff said. "I'm looking forward to it because it should be you're fighting for your job every practice, every year, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Asked what went so wrong last year, when he seemed to have a good camp at free safety, Huff shrugged in wonder.
"It really was tough," Huff said. Coming out of camp, everything felt good. It's just that Monday night game struggled and ever since then everything was downhill. To this date I really don't know what happened."
No. 5 -- The Raiders must cut three players to get to the 80-man limit, and already did so according to a team source who declined to name names.
For those thinking backup quarterback Andrew Walter was done, that was news to him. He checked in for camp Tuesday -- and yes, they did issue him a room key.
Raiders coach Tom Cable won't speak with reporters until noon Wednesday. That's when the transactions are most likely to become public.
Posted By: David White (Email) | July 28 2009 at 07:40 PM
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