Day one thoughts? Reactions?

007

007

On suicide watch. #AMARI
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1.1 JaMarcus Russell
2.38 Zach Miller
3.65 Quinten Moses
3.91 Mario Henderson
3.99 JL Higgins

Overall, Im actually very happy.

Add Mcown as a QB and Mike Williams for some WR depth, and we had ourselves a very good first day.

I doubt we needed to trade for Henderson, and everyone new JL Higgins was born to be a Raider, so those shouldnt hurt anyone.

I loved the first three picks, and the second round trade.

Im a happy camper, although Im hoping Mike Bush is the target after the crew sleeps on it overnight.
 
Day two targets:

Bold are the ones Im suprised are still there...

Mike Bush
Antonio Pittman
Darius Walker
Ben Patrick
Joe Newton
Alan Barbre
Brandon Frye
Doug Free
Adam Koets
Josh Beekman
Dan Mozes
Doug Datish
Jay Moore
Brian Robison
Mkristo Bruce
Baraka Atkins
Marcus Thomas
Paul Soliai
Ryan McBean
Brandon Siler
Tim Shaw
Zak DeOssie
Michael Johnson
Mason Crosby
 
1.1 JaMarcus Russell-Cool with it
2.38 Zach Miller-I like it, but would've rather gone defense.
3.65 Quinten Moses-Like the guy. But don't know if he's a sure thing. Starting to think we suck at drafting DE's.
3.91 Mario Henderson-bleh, no comment.
3.99 JL Higgins-gay ass pick. Kinda offends me to see it.
 
antonio pittman surprises me, Michael Bush doesnt. AP coulda' fell very far if the Vikes didn't hop on him because of injury concerns.
 
QB - JaMarcus Russell - guys a monster... may well save the franchise... if he busts he sets us back a few years
TE - Zach Miller - could be the best TE in this draft... I think he's Todd Heap for us
DE - Quentin Moses - Great value here. pass rusher extrordanaire
T - Mario Henderson - definately an Al kinda guy. Big athletic T but has some stre concerns. Definatley a system fit though. might have been early
WR - Johnny Lee Higgins - great speed. Better WR then some of the ones drafted before him
QB - Josh McCown - QB insurance for half a 4th rounder... ill take it!
WR - Big Mike Williams - if williams can revive his career in oakland for half a 4th rounder.... holy crap this could be the best value of the draft

Overall - one of the best first days weve had in years... A-/B+ area
 
I give us a C+ to B- area.

That higgins pick was shitty imo. No way i see carlos francis Jett Jr. as a good pick rather than a DT.
 
i give the day a "B"

that trade down in the 2nd to get Miller, McCown and Williams was genius
 
I'm going to start planning my draft day for 2008 early, this two charity event in one day thing is for the birds, especially playing golf with a hangover this am. :(

Anyway was able to sneak off to the bar and watch some of ESPN's coverage.

Can't complain too much about our first two picks. Wasn't sure if we were going to draft a TE that early but I love the Zach Miller pick. Hopefully we can get rid of some of the dead weight we have at the TE position. This guy is a legit #1 TE. Instantly improves the offense.

Really like the Quentin Moses pick. I thought he was a real good value in the 3rd besides, I had him in my Lil Al.:D

Not really crazy about the Mario Henderson pick. This guy has a lot of question marks. I don't know what we saw in this guy that would make us pass on Someone like Doug Free who'd be a great fit in this offense or Alan Barbre. I think a real reach in the 3rd and we gave up our 3rd in 2008 to nab this guy?

Johnnie Lee Higgins was definitely an AL pick as already alluded to. We needed a twitch guy but unlike some of his predecessors, has the toughness to catch the ball in traffic and seems to have good work ethic.

The addition of McCown and BMW for a 4th was a nice pick up. Suddenly our Qb situation isn't looking all that bad and hopefully Kiff can get BMW back on the good foot. We've got some nice depth at wr now.

With the exception of the Henderson pick, I'd rate this first day an A-. Real solid. We still have a chance to nab another OL. Mike Bush will be hard to pass up too. Other than that, I'd like to see us go more defense tom.
Can someone please tell me how we ended up with these compensatory picks, two at the end of the 3rd, one in the 4th and one in the 5th?
 
I'm very happy with Day 1. I'd give Oakland a B+ overall. I thought the first 3 picks were very good. Everyone knows I'm a J-Rock guy, so when they made that pick the best way to describe what I felt was "relief". It was good to see them not out-think the pick.

I liked the trade down in round 2 to get Miller. Further, the pick they acquired from Arizona was used to trade for Josh McCown & Mike Williams. While neither is exactly jaw dropping, you just traded a 4th round pick for a QB who has starting experience in the NFL and a WR that was selected 11th overall just two years ago. If even one of those guys hits, it's a masterful trade. I had heard/read that the price for McCown was going to be a 5th rounder, and they managed to get Mike Williams added to the deal in exchange for a pick they only had to trade down 5 spots for. Freakin' great deal.

Quentin Moses is the lynchpin pick for the 1st day, if you ask me. If he can provide a pass rush off the edge on passing downs he'll be worth the pick. In other words, I don't think he needs to be a starter... especially right away... to get value for a 3rd round pick. What I like about Moses is that even with the pedestrian senior year he's got a few things you can't teach. Size, long arms, and the ability to close on the QB. Not bad for a 3rd round pick.

The Mario Henderson pick didn't really impress me. I'm not sure where he fits into the zone blocking scheme and he sounds like more of a long-term project. Maybe a possible RT down the road. I do like his size and the fact he played at a big-time program but he seems like a 2-yr project to me.

I actually really liked the Higgins pick. Good fit for Kiffen's offense and his specialty is YAC, and he's the king of YAC. Good hands and great open field speed. He'll also be able to contribute right away on special teams and may spell Carr on punt returns.



The only thing I would've liked to see them do is move back up into the late 2nd for Kalil. The price wouldn't have been too prohibitive and he's certainly a better option to play right away compared to Henderson. But I can't complain with a first day haul of Russell, Z. Miller, Moses, Henderson, and Higgins combined with McCown and Mike Williams. All without mortgaging high picks next year.
 
One other thing... read the scouting reports on all the guys taken and you see one common theme throughout.

High character.



As for tomorrow, I'd be very happy to see them pull the trigger on a RB with the #100 pick. Either Bush, Pittman, Battle, or Jackson.

Speaking of the 4th round... did anyone see what the trade with New England ended up being for? I'm thinking a pick next year since all of Oakland's original Day 2 picks are being scrolled on NFLN.
 
Despite the fact that my LIL Al board is shot to hell, I like the way day one shaped out, even if we drafted Akili Smith.


QB - JaMarcus Russell - If the kid pans out to be even HALF of what Al compares him to, then we have the best QB in our history. If not, we are screwed........kinda.
TE - Zach Miller - I love this pick, best PURE TE in this draft and a nice fit for our offense.
DE - Quentin Moses - A great value in the 3rd, but is still developmental. I like this pick alot too.
T - Mario Henderson - HUGE reach in Round 3, coulda been had in Round 5 or 6. But Al likes guys like this and he could be a replacment for LangsTON Walker. FG blocker type.
WR - Johnny Lee Higgins - I had Higgins in my Lil Al at two different spots and cut him out in favor of a possible Steve Smith pick. But this is another value pick and typical of al Davis based on speed and skill set. Love this pick too!

The Vets:
QB - Josh McCown - Talk about robbery. McCown will start the season and mentor russell. Sounded glad about too on Sirius NFL radio too. Means no pressure on J Russ to be an immediate impact.
WR -Mike Williams - Must have been a toss in in the McCown deal and if all works well with the change of scenery and being back in the USC system....wow, all hell could break loose.

Overall - I think we landed one rookie starter (Miller) and potentially 2 vet starters with Day 2 left to go. If we can launch Randy Moss for a 2008 pick, then this draft is an A all the way! Right now, a solid C+ to B for sure. Looks like Al is giving Kiffen all the toys he needs to win, offensively.
 
Henderson was a 'meh', but it can't hurt to throw another athletic tackle into the mix so I won't cry myself to sleep tonight.

I really like the Higgins pick. He's got speed and production, and from what I've read he isn't just a sideline guy.

We've got to be realistic about the position. Moss is gone, leaving us with Porter, Curry's achillies, and a buncha unproven guys... really every one of them is unproven to some extent, or at least not proven to be a legit #1 or elite #2.... so in my mind we needed a WR and were bound to take one.

Awsome job by Al and Kiff.

I'd like to see them take Bush to start things off tommorow, let him rest for a season then take over for Lamont 'butterball' Jordan in '08'
 
I'll give out my first A grade for a Raider day one, ever.

(And I hated the Huff pick and most of the recent drafts, by comparison)

Today we got:

A Franchise QB, a DE with huge upside, a talented TE I'd compare to Heath Miller or Jason Witten, a OL with upside and a blazing fast WR who can stretch the field.

Adding to that we basically got Mike Williams and our starting QB next year for FREE...

The only move I can question is the trade for Mario Henderson, but in the end we'll have had 6 of the top 100 picks, so one reach isnt gonna kill me (Higgins wasnt a reach at all, IMO)

A good day for Raider fans.
 
Russell pretty much makes or breaks this draft for the Raiders. We'll see what happens.

Some trends:

- 6 players on offense, 1 on defense... I'm not overly enthusiastic about that... Sure our offense was horrible, but I was hoping to see more of a 50-50 split on offense and defense.

- 2 QBs, 3 receivers (TE included), 1 OLine, 0 RB... Apparently the Raiders have much more confidence their RB situation that I have. I'm fine with bringing in 2 QBs, but what's up with all the receivers again? If TE is really going to be a big part of Kiffin's offense, then I guess I'm fine with spending a 2nd on Miller. Ditto with Williams... but Higgins is really a waste of a pick.

- 0 DT Probably the biggest bummer of the 1st day. With the division we're in and how soft our run defense was up the middle last year, this was a surprise. I still think there is some really good value at DT in the 2nd half of the draft.
 
One thing I'll add though, Socal is that the value at DT after Tyler and Mebane left the board was slim and none...

Who was worthy of 99?

Soliai?

Kareem Brown?

I don't see it.

I liked a couple DE's there, but with Huntley, Burgess, Moses, Kelly, Brayton, I don't know if its overkill.

I only disliked the Mario Henderson pick, and considering the fact that Al always has one head scratcher, I take solice in the fact that I've actually watched Mario Henderson play, instead of thinking who is Pat McQuistan? or Stanford who?
 
Raiderfan007 said:
One thing I'll add though, Socal is that the value at DT after Tyler and Mebane left the board was slim and none...

Who was worthy of 99?

Soliai?

Kareem Brown?

I don't see it.
Click to expand...

I am higher on McDonald, who went at 97 and could have been ours at 91. Soliai would have been a great pick at 99. McBean will be good value in the 4th. Not high at all on Kareem Brown.
 
I happy... that we traded down for once and hearing Kiff almost smirk that everything went perfectly to plan is very encouraging...

I have it a solid B, maybe even a B+ as well only because we traded a 3rd next year for Henderson... though as Banter pointed out, we gave traded a 3 for a 3 and Henderson has the year to develop... I can't say I know much about the guy other than he has great measurables though, hopefully FSU Jack has some insights... Seems we probably could have held our water and got him at 99.... but then again if this is who Cable wants, I'm all for giving him exactly who he feels he needs to turn the O-line around...


I've actually seen Higgins play a bit over the past few years... He's definitely not the Alvis Whitted/James Jett one dimentional straight line guy... Plus he's productive (82 passes for 1,319 yards (16.1 avg) and thirteen touchdowns in 2006)....


Only one defensive guy for Rob Ryan today... I imagine we'll see a couple of guys there tomorrow...
 
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I won't pretend to know much about any of these guys so I'll approach this more from a postional perspective.

First off, kudos to the Raiders for selecting JaMarcus Russell. Despite my recent "cold feet" about JR over the past few days, I trust that Al Davis & Company are sold on JR otherwise they could have traded down or taken the "safe pick" in Calvin Johson (BTW, sooo glad that Gruden didn't get DJ).

These guys have been evaluating this day & night for weeks. I'm OK with their judgement.

Long Live the Jamarcus Russell ERA !!!

Come on Raider Nation, I know it's hard to be positive given how the last 3 years have gone, but shit, just enjoy the moment for once.

On paper, if you select a potential Franchise QB, that is a good thing. Even the cynics must admit that it certainly offers more hope that Kerry Collins or Aaron Brooks?

I'm looking forward to it.
 
Oh yeah, the selections:

QB - JaMarcus Russell - If the franchise believes in him, so will I. It certainly offers more hope than our recent crop of QB's. Aside from Rich Gannon, the Raiders haven't had a good QB for 15 years. Obviously today tells us everything we need to know about how the Raiders feel about Andrew Walter. I agree with them.

TE - Zach Miller - I was truly hoping DT here. I really thought we'd stay put and land Alan Branch. Anyway, Zach Miller is highly regarded by many and he appears to be a Day-1 Starter and should give McCown/Walter/Russell a reliable large target on the short stuff with some limited ability to exploit the seams.

DE - Quentin Moses - Sounds like a sound pick with Tommy Kelly moving to DE to take the pounding on 1st & 2nd down. Moses with Huntley provide some nice options on 3rd down to go along with Burgess and Warren Sapp.

T - Mario Henderson - I won't quarrel with this pick. He will have the chance to develop and sounds like a much better athlete than Langston Walker. It's not as though we are brimming with options at OT. On paper, I understand the pick.

WR - Jonnie Higgins - Don't know anything about this guy, but he does seem to have some "suddeness" to him. Screw the 40 time. Makes sense if you think about it. Porter and Moss are big WR's, Curry is a posession guy, also with some size, but we really don't have the quick option at WR that many other teams have. I'd be happy with a Poor Man's Steve Smith. He certainly shoud give Morant & Francis a kick in the pants.

Again, I'd probably have preferred DT, but I'm beating a dead horse.

QB - Josh McCown & WR - Mike Williams - Both are worth the gamble for a 4th round pick. The Raiders made out in a big way IMO. McCown will likely win the starting gig and he might suprise some people along the way. Williams is a prototypical Al Davis reclamation project and having Kiffin & Crew on board will hopefully light some sort of fire under BMW. I agree with whoever said that the potential here is tremendous. Remember, the Lions were seeking a Day-1 pick for McCown on his own. BMW was a throw in and we still didn't surrender a 1st day pick. Greatness.

Overall, I'm disapointed that Randy Moss remains a Raider and I'd like to have seen at least 2 defensive players, but overall, I'd rate this a solid 'B' of Day-1 draft.
 
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