Which QB goes?
Posted by Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer on August 23rd, 2007
Now that things appear to be moving along at a brisk pace, given their "three or four" face-to-face meetings since April, you'd think the signing of JaMarcus Russell ought to come any month now.
What happens next?
Unless the Raiders take the unusual step of carrying four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, either Daunte Culpepper, Josh McCown or Andrew Walter will be released or traded.
"I'm going to figure that out when (Russell) gets here, and we're giong to go with what we have right now," coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday. "Like I've said before, I've got to get this team ready to beat Detroit with who we have right now, and when he gets here, we'll figure that part out."
Given the strides he's made, the most unlikely candidate to go would be Culpepper. Al Davis made it clear the Raiders wouldn't rush Culpepper into a starting role, likening him to Jim Plunkett as a guy who needed some recovery time.
Culpepper's signing might have even been part of a strategy to get Russell to sign, with the Raiders figuring paying off the $750,000 contract guarantee would be money well spent to get Russell to sign for less.
If that was a strategy, it hasn't worked, and Culpepper's $3.2 million in salary and bonus money will only make it a tighter fit for Russell under the cap. But there was a big consolation prize _ Culpepper has been better than anyone expected.
Aside from a disturbing snap exchange problem, Culpepper has been mobile enough to roll out and complete passes and even ran 13 yards for a first down against San Francisco. He hasn't forced passes into coverage and appears on board with Kiffin's "avoid sacks and turnovers at all costs" philosophy.
Remember when Culpepper played in Oakland in 2003? He passed for 396 yards but turned the ball over five times on fumbles and interceptions. It's precisely the sort of thing Kiffin is worried about.
If Culpepper can get through the St. Louis game by taking snaps without mishap and performing efficiently, he could end up starting in Week 1.
The thought here all along was that McCown was brought in as a caretaker for Russell. But McCown never separated himself by a considerable margin from Walter, let alone Culpepper. Although the most mobile quarterback of the three, and one who is very good on the outside throwing to backs and tight ends, McCown's passing has been erratic over the middle, an area which is prone to the tunovers Kiffin wants so desperately to avoid.
Walter has the most potential in trade value because he remains under contract after this season and has shown resiliency after taking such a beating in the Tom Walsh offense last season.
Given time to pass, Walter has shown that in a dropback, play-action system _ like the one the Raiders had under Norv Turner and Art Shell _ he has the potential to be an NFL starter.
The Raiders don't run that system any more, and the Falcons don't, either. That doesn't mean Atlanta wouldn't interested in Walter on a temporary basis, but ideally for his sake he would land with a team that runs a system better suited for his skills.
WEDNESDAY FOLLOWUP: One note regarding Wednesday's blog items. A blog is not a news story, but a "Web log." It's a running compilation of events and opinions. Lane Kiffin says it's the first-face-to-face meeting between the Raiders and the Russell's agents, and it is reported accurately, word-for-word, within an hour after he said it.
One of the Raiders negotiators calls to say Kiffin was in error, and that gets reported as well, within an hour after the call was received. (Someone in Alameda is paying attention _ I got a call on my cell phone less than 30 minutes after the post).
The negotiator did not dispute what Kiffin said and agreed nothing was misquoted or taken out of context.
There was some polite disagreement with some aspects of my opinion of how the process was going. None of those thoughts will be printed because it was all off the record. That's how the Raiders do business, and it's their prerogative. It was an extremely civil exchange and not heavy-handed or condescending in any way.
My main contention all along has been that both sides should have been much farther along in the process, given Russell's status as the top pick. They weren't. And the face-to-face contact, whether it was "three or four times" or just once, hasn't been often enough for a pick of this magnitude.
The Raiders are not entirely at fault, nor are Russell and his agents.
It's a negotiation. Both sides are accountable, and it ends when they meet somewhere in the middle.
When it does, and the dollars are pretty much what everyone expected they'd be, all that will be left is to wonder why it took so long.
